Return of Darkness
by Squall67584
Summary: [Post DOC] When a Top Secret Facility of the WRO is attacked, Reeve calls on Cloud to investigate. But what he uncovers there could threaten the stability of the entire world! Can Cloud rise to the challenge and stop this new enemy before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the second story concerning Final Fantasy VII I've ever written, and I hope everyone who gives it a chance enjoys it. Though I won't be holding the story hostage for Reviews, they do help in the motivation department so leave one if you read it! That being said, I'm not going to bother with the standard disclaimer, because honestly, everyone knows that Square-Enix isn't going to write a fanfic and post it on here. Instead, they would just make it into something for us to buy. Anyway, enough of that and on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 1

William Carter let out a sigh of utter and complete boredom as he leaned his head on his hand and closed his eyes. It was at moments like this that he often regretted joining the World Regenesis Organization. When he had joined up two years ago, during the Geostigma epidemic, he thought he was going to see exotic lands and see some action in one way or form. It was with this thought in mind that he jumped at the chance to be stationed at a "Top Secret" facility in Mideel. But as exciting as he thought it was going to be, the truth of being stationed in the Mideel Data Facility was as boring as watching water drip into a pan; which was ironic because that was what he was watching happen right in front of his bunk.

The thunderstorm had come earlier in the day and had made his usual duties outside moot, so he was stuck inside the barracks building. The occasional flash of lightning provided the only form of entertainment in the way of William counting until the crash of thunder shook the barracks. The excitement was getting to be too much for him to handle, and sleep was beginning to pour over him when his bunkmates entered and began to talk annoyingly loud about something that was as interesting to William as drying paint. He was about to sit up and tell them to take it someplace else when the sound of a large crash shook the very foundations. William's two bunkmates stopped talking and together all three craned their necks in an attempt to hear it again. After a brief moment of silence, besides the constant drone of rain on the metal roofing and the rolling of thunder, William turned to the others and was about to ask what the hell that could have possibly been when the alarm klaxon began to sound and the red warning light began to illuminate the room as it spun around in an urgent manner.

"Security breach!" one of his bunkmates yelled as he jumped over his bunk to grab his gear. William let out a four-letter curse that his mother would slap him for saying, and grabbed his M57A4 Assault Rifle and his helmet.

"This better not be a damned drill, if it is I swear on all that's holy I'll quit this damn job!" William said as he slammed a magazine into the rifle and pulled back the feed bolt. His two buddies agreed and together they ran out into the hallway and made their way to the exit door.

When they neared the door, the sound of the beating rain was supplemented with the staccato of rapid gunfire. Before they opened the door, they exchanged a look that was a strange mix of anxiety, fear, and excitement. With a firm nod to each other, they swung the door open and ran out into the open courtyard.

The rain was coming down in torrential waves that battered William's face and pelted off of his helmet. Though it was still early in the night, the sky was pitch black. The random flare of lightning backlit the oppressing clouds above. The bright searchlights that were on the watchtowers illuminated the courtyard but the streaking rain made the light spread further from its intended path.

At first, William couldn't make out what the other troops were shooting at, but suddenly the searchlights found their target, and William swallowed hard in terror.

The attacker, which he most certainly was, was a loomingly tall figure, well over seven feet tall. His arms were like tree trunks, but even though they were nearly as wide as a normal man, they moved with a blurring speed. In his hands he held a long pole with twin bladed swords at the end that he spun with a dizzying efficiency that caused all of the bullets fired at him to ricochet away. The attacker's skin appeared to be a deep tanned color, but the unyielding rain was making it hard to see. His hair was cut short against the sides of his head and stood several inches straight up on the top. From what William could tell, it was a pale shade of white. He appeared to be wearing a type of uniform, though it was something that William had not seen in nearly four years.

Before William could figure out where he had seen the uniform before, the attacker spun and swung one side of his dual blades at a fellow WRO trooper and split him in half. The shock of seeing one of his friends decimated in such a way broke William out of his trance and he began to act.

William raised his M57A4 and began to fire without taking aim. The bullets flew out in a rapid yellow flower of fury, but they only met the spinning dual blades as they deflected the bullets with an inhuman efficiency. William gave him the full contents of his magazine before he heard the bone-chilling sound of the receiver slamming forward without a round to place into the chamber.

William's eyes went wide as he watched the massive form of the attacker run towards him, and one of the thin deadly blades streaked towards him aiming for his head. The last thing that William saw on this side of the Lifestream was the eerily glowing blue eyes of his killer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_At first, Cloud did not know where he was, but that notion didn't scare him. He appeared to be in a sort of void, but instead of being cold and overpowering, he felt as if the void was warm and inviting. He tried to look around, but it was as if he was suspended in a fluid that was thicker than water, making his movements seem labored and in slow motion. As he slowly walked forward (walked was the closest thing to call it since there wasn't really a firm ground to move on) he began to get a hint of a fragrance reminiscent to flowers. Cloud stopped moving when he saw the figure of Aerith standing with her back to him, surrounded by yellow flowers that trailed off and blurrily disappeared about three feet away from her. _

_Cloud instantly realized that this was a dream. Aerith had come to him in dreams before, back when he was trying to deal with the guilt of her death. But that had been two years ago. Since then, the only time he saw her was in his memories. So why now was she coming to him?_

_When he approached her, he could see her shoulders tense up. In confusion, Cloud asked her what was wrong._

"_Something's not right with the Planet. Someone's trying to do something, but I can't tell what," Aerith said in an ethereal voice that had an obvious level of anxiety in it. Cloud narrowed his brow in confusion and stepped closer to her._

"_What do you mean, is Sephiroth trying to come back again?" The question hung in the void but went unanswered. Aerith lowered her head and slumped her shoulders as if she was about to pass out. Cloud jumped forward and grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. But instead of seeing the bright face that he was used to, instead her face was replaced by a monstrous façade that was a pale shade of blue and with glowing red eyes. When Cloud saw this, he pulled back with surprise. Whatever this was, it wasn't Aerith! The imposter grinned, showing a mouth of sharp blood thirsty teeth and lunged forward, intent on killing him._

* * *

Cloud jumped awake in bed and quickly scanned the room, making sure that he was back in Edge. After he was sure that he was back in the real world, Cloud let his head fall back on the pillow and he let out a long breath. After a moment, he looked over to the clock and saw that it was five in the morning. Softly, as to not wake Tifa who was lying next to him, he got out of bed and peeked through the blinds of the window. 

Outside, the sky was still dark, but was hinted with a dark orange hew from the street lights. The thunderstorm that had come earlier in the night was gone, but the streets were still visibly wet. A few cars were on the road, driven by workers who were going to their jobs that required them to be there earlier than most.

Cloud withdrew from the window and began to get dressed. Today he had to deliver a package to Junon, a trip that would take him a day and a half, a day if he drove constantly. He used to do this, but Tifa worried that he might fall asleep while driving, so he promised her he wouldn't do that anymore. As Cloud tightened his sword harness and made sure the belts were in their proper place, Tifa stirred under the sheets. She looked up with half opened eyes and sleepily spoke.

"Leaving all ready?" Cloud nodded and headed for the door.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

"You'll be here for lunch?" Tifa asked as she laid her head back down on her pillow. Cloud nodded and then silently opened the door and stepped out.

Tifa smiled at how much progress Cloud had made since he finally forgave himself for his past sins. Before, Cloud was always reserved and hardly ever made a promise, but now he opened up, albeit it was not very common, and he kept his word. The last time that he had went out for a distant delivery, he had promised to bring something home for the kids, and he had brought a stuffed moogle for Marlene and a toy plastic sword for Denzel. Though Shelke physically looked like she was ten, she was just as old as Yuffie was, so instead of bringing her a toy, Cloud had brought her a new part for her computer. The gift that he had brought Tifa was something that they shared behind closed doors.

As she lay there, thinking about Cloud and smiling to herself, she could hear him start his bike, Fenrir, a few buildings down (he did this because he didn't want to wake anyone up, the bike was rather loud). Tifa tried to go back to sleep, but now she was fully awake, so she turned on the television and sat up. As the box began to slowly illuminate the room with its bright flicker, the newscaster's voice came on.

"_This is Jackie Foster live on the scene in Junon, where Anti-WRO protests have reached an all time high. What started out yesterday as being a mass rally of picketers became a full scale protest when their ranks were joined by the leading Anti-WRO group who call themselves the Returners. As you will remember, the Returners have members throughout the world, each demanding extreme action to remove the WRO from power. Here we have one of the Returners. Sir, what is it exactly that you want from the WRO?"_

"_What we want is them to admit that they are working with the former Shinra Company. We also want them to step down from their global capitalization and to stop using their mind control tactics on the world. They may say that they're doing everything for the better good of the world, but we know what they're really up to!"_

"_And what if the WRO doesn't meet your demands?"_

"_Then we'll have to use the only negotiating tool those bastards can understand! We'll take the fight to them!"_

"_There you have it, straight from the Returner's mouths. Back to you Bernard."_

"_Thank you Jackie. As of this moment, there have only been limited acts of violence in Junon, however this situation is reaching its threshold. Commissioner Tuesti could not be reached for comment, though we have learned that a large WRO peacekeeping force will be arriving in Junon within the hour. For more on this story, log on to our website at…"_

Tifa turned the set off and let out a sigh. She could not understand why there would be so much action taken against the WRO and Reeve. After all, it was through his efforts that many people's lives were saved, both after the Meteor Crisis and during the Deep Ground incident. While she herself did believe that people should have the right to say what they want, she didn't understand why these Returners were wanting to fight over it. But, as soon as she thought this, she remembered that once upon a time, she too had fought for what she believed in; however, she reassured herself that the circumstances were much different.

Tifa stood up from bed and took her bathrobe off of a hook in the door, put it on, and tied the sash around her waist. She knew that Cloud was heading to Junon, and though she was slightly worried about him, she knew that he could take care of himself. After all, he had fought and defeated Sephiroth on several occasions. She let out a sigh, and went downstairs to get breakfast ready for the kids before they went off to school.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This posting is coming rather quickly after the first two, which isn't going to be the norm. I'm posting this chapter sooner than I orignially planned because I'm going out of town later this week and can't get to a computer (getting back to nature and all that). Let me know if you like it so far!

* * *

Chapter 3

It was mid afternoon when Cloud stopped Fenrir and killed the engine. He removed his driving glasses and watched the afternoon sun radiate off of the once polished brass edifice of Junon. The city had once claimed to be the only remaining marvel of the modern world after Meteor had wrecked Midgar beyond all repair, even though Junon itself was wrecked by a Weapon attack. However as prosperous as the denizens of the city had tried to make it out, Junon was still a cesspool for crime, greed, and corruption.

The Mayor of Junon had half-heartedly rebuilt the city, but the funds for this came out of the policing force, so the city was soon rampant with street gangs and organized crime. Once the WRO had successfully established itself, it had a difficult time trying to weed out the criminals, the mayor included. In order to do this, the WRO had to set up a major base of operations that happened to be in the old Shinra Headquarters; obviously this did not sit well with the locals.

Even though the WRO had made the city halfway decent for the regular citizens to live in, their presence in the city became a focus point for those who believed that the WRO was just a nice front for the return of Shinra. For the past six months, the streets of Junon were a constant fiasco consisting of picketers, protestors, and the occasional group of rioters. Junon had become a place where any visitor had to watch their back when walking its streets.

Cloud fired up the engine and took off for the under city. After driving past the old homes and deserted fish markets that had once been the original Junon, he stopped at the newly created parking lot for the visitors of the upper city. As Cloud got off the bike, he opened the two weapon compartments and removed the main blade of his First Tsurugi, and the large straight blade that when combined with the other became the outer edge. He placed both of these into his sword harness and then closed the compartments. The package that he was delivering was strapped to the back of the bike, so he undid these and carried it to the main elevator.

The WRO official lazily stood up from his chair inside the small window booth and looked Cloud fully over before he turned on his microphone to speak. Cloud noticed that the man's eyes seemed to pause for a moment when he saw the two swords on his back.

"State your name and business," the man said with an obvious level of boredom.

"Cloud Strife, I'm delivering a package to Mr. Farnsworth." The man let out a long tiring yawn and then waved Cloud on without checking to see if his statement was legitimate. Cloud lightly frowned at the man's disregard for security since it was supposed to be his job to keep potential security threats out of the upper city where they could create havoc. The security grating blocking the elevator opened, so Cloud dropped the thought and entered the elevator.

The elevator was much as it was four years ago; a giant lifting platform of corrugated steel and hydraulic lines. As the platform began its rise, Cloud shifted his weight to the opposite foot and wondered what would be going on in the streets today. The elevator stopped with a shudder at the top, and Cloud exited. The metallic hallway was slightly cleaner than it was the last time Cloud had been here, but that wasn't saying much. Through the windows he could see several large WRO air-freighters that were unloading supply bundles. Down the hallway, where the offices of the airport staff were held, Cloud could hear multiple phones ringing and people talking frantically into them. Without giving them much more notice, Cloud stepped out of the station area and into the streets of Junon.

This street seemed to be mostly deserted, but the loud clamber of protesting could be heard coming from the other side of the city where the WRO Headquarters was. Cloud briefly looked at the address on his shipping label and began to make his way down the streets.

As he walked, several of the shop owners peered out through their doorways; not looking for potential customers, but making sure that no hoodlums were going to try and seize the opportunity presented to them because all of the police forces were at the WRO Headquarters trying to keep the crowd under control.

Cloud found the building that Mr. Farnsworth lived in and began to climb the three flights of stairs to the man's apartment. When he knocked on the door, he had to wait several minutes before he heard a weak sounding voice ask who it was.

"Strife Delivery Service, I have a package for a Mr. Farnsworth," Cloud said loudly towards the door. There was another brief pause of silence, but then he heard the sounds of multiple door chains and deadbolts being shifted out of the way. When the door opened, Cloud looked down at a small and frail old man with glasses that must have been as thick as three inches. His eyes seemed to be magnified by the ridiculous lenses and the frail man pushed them up his nose as he smiled at the box that Cloud was carrying.

Cloud handed him the package, though he was afraid the box was too heavy for the old man to carry. Mr. Farnsworth took the package as if it were expunging all of his strength to keep from dropping it and placed it on his floor. He then looked back up at Cloud, who handed him a form to sign confirming that the delivery was made. The old man scribbled what might have been his name on the form and then smiled widely as he handed it back to him. Cloud folded the paper and placed it in his pocket and was about to turn and leave when the old man pushed his glasses further up his face and eyed the two swords on his back. Cloud saw him look at them and tried to bring a smile to his face.

"For protection," Cloud said. The old man nodded in understanding and then turned his head towards the loud sound coming from the center of town.

"Damned hooligans, always wanting to fight someone without even knowing why." Cloud nodded to the man and then began to make his way down the stairs.

When Cloud was back on the street, he stopped for a moment and decided to see what the crowd looked like. Instead of walking down the main streets to get to the center of Junon, Cloud took a few short cuts through the alleyways. The alleys were just like any typical alley; dark, small, and smelling of trash since it was littered everywhere even though there were trash cans right next to them. Cloud stopped at the entrance to the main square and could see the mass mob of people all protesting and shouting at the WRO building, which was surrounded by WRO troopers wearing full riot gear. The crowd was held back by police barricades and the full, yet limited, contingent of the Junon Police. From the massive din created by the mob, Cloud could make out a few organized chants.

"_Hey, Ho, WRO; Pack up and hit the Road!"_

"_Heave, Heave, Mr. Reeve; We can't wait until you Leave!" _

Cloud looked into the crowds and could see people clad in blue overalls with a large emblazoned red R on their breast leading these chants. He watched for a few moments before he shook his head and turned back around to leave.

About ten feet into the alley, two men stepped out from behind the cover of a dumpster and blocked his path. They were both wearing the same blue overalls with the red R that Cloud had seen in the crowd. As these two men smiled wickedly and slowly began to advance, Cloud heard a third person enter the alley behind him. Cloud narrowed his brow and watched the two advancing towards him.

"Well well," the one on the left said as he brought out a baton stick and began to smack it into his palm rhythmically. "Look what we have here; one of the WRO lapdogs."

"Yeah, savior of the world my ass," the one on the right said. He too was now brandishing a baton.

"I think those stories are all full of shit," the one behind Cloud said in a provoking tone. Cloud closed his eyes and brought a smirk across his face. This made the two that were facing him pause momentarily as they tried to figure out what the trapped man was doing. Cloud opened his eyes again and addressed all three of them at once.

"Do your mothers know you talk like that?" Cloud said with a mocking laugh. The two men looked at each other in shock that they were just insulted and then lunged forward towards Cloud.

With a speed that the three men thought wasn't humanly possible, Cloud quickly grabbed both swords from his harness, and blocked the three incoming attacks from their batons. The three attackers stared at Cloud with their voices trapped in their throats. Cloud smirked briefly before he pushed the three of them off with a level of strength that the three had never seen. Cloud then quickly turned to the attacker behind him and kicked hard with his right foot, hitting the man in his chest and sending him flying into the street unconscious. Cloud then quickly turned back to the other two who were now staring at Cloud with looks of fear. Cloud simply took the main blade of his sword, now turned to where the blunt end faced them, and hit them with a ferocious smack that hurled the two back against a brick wall and knocked them out. Cloud stood back up, now relaxed, and placed the two swords back into their harness.

After giving a brief look at the man that Cloud had sent reeling into the street, he was about to continue on his way out, but he heard a brief sound emanating from above him.

"Humph, Returners."

Cloud looked up and was not surprised to see the form of a man crouched on a fire escape, draped in a tattered red flowing cloak.

"Vincent," Cloud said as he nodded to the man. Vincent Valentine returned the nod, though his was such a slight movement that a person who did not know him would not have thought he moved at all. Vincent's gaze shifted from Cloud and settled on the mass crowd of angry people gathered in the streets. His crimson eyes narrowed as he contemplated what he was seeing.

"This is getting out of hand. If this continues, only innocent people will get hurt." Cloud turned around and looked at the crowd and then nodded in agreement with Vincent. For a moment they stood in silence watching the group, but Cloud's cell phone began to emit an annoying clumsy fast-paced song that made Vincent think of Chocobos for some reason. Cloud looked at the name on the front of the phone before he sighed and answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Cloud, this is Reeve. I need to talk to you about something important._" Cloud let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. No matter what Reeve called about, he always said that it was important.

"Can it wait? I'm busy at the moment."

"_I know what you're thinking Cloud, but this _is_ important, trust me_." Cloud narrowed his brow when he heard the truly serious tone of Reeve's voice. Reeve very rarely used this tone on the phone, unless he was trying to seriously get something done. Cloud stiffened his back as he responded.

"How important?" Reeve gave a light laugh, though Cloud could tell it was forced.

"_Good, I'm glad I got your attention. I'd love to discuss this over the phone with you, but it's of a sensitive nature. I'd like for you to come to the Main Headquarters. When you get here I can tell you everything in full._" This made Cloud raise his eyebrow in confusion. Reeve was an expert at electronics and knew that cell phone calls could be listened in on if someone had the proper tools. Whatever Reeve wanted to tell him, he was afraid that someone might be listening in. Whatever it was, it must have been as important as Reeve was making it out to be.

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I'm in Junon right now so I'll be in first thing in the morning."

"_Good. See you then Cloud._" Cloud flipped his phone closed and scratched his head as he thought about what it might be. The red flapping cloak made him look up briefly at Vincent, who was still staring at the crowd.

"That was Reeve. He said he had something important to talk to me about." Vincent smirked and looked down at Cloud.

"Reeve must be in quite a jam if he's calling in favors from his friends." Cloud nodded and then asked if Vincent wanted to join him in. Vincent lightly shook his head and motioned out towards the crowd.

"No, I'll stay here and make sure that no one gets hurt by these imbeciles." Cloud nodded and began to walk away. Without turning around, he waved to Vincent and spoke.

"If it's important, I'll let you know." Vincent nodded, even though Cloud couldn't see him but Cloud didn't have to see Vincent to know that that he did.

When Cloud got back to the parking lot in the lower city, he sat momentarily on Fenrir and wondered if he should call Tifa to let her know that he might be late for lunch. He decided against it because he didn't want her to get worked up over nothing, and with a quick turn of the ignition, Fenrir roared to life. Cloud quickly did a 180 by twisting the accelerator to full and left Junon in a trail of dust.

* * *

Vincent Valentine continued to sit motionless on the fire escape watching the crowd from the shadows. The only movement that came from him was his billowing tattered red cloak that would occasionally move when a small gust of wind came by. From his vantage point, he could survey the large seething mob that was now shouting more loudly than before at the WRO building.

Vincent looked for that telling sign, the one that would alert him that a rioter was about to push the envelope and create a cascade of chaos that would flow out from the mob. If and when that happened, Vincent knew that he wouldn't have much time to move before someone would get injured, or worse, killed. As his crimson eyes scanned the crowd, he soon discovered a sight that was both peculiar and seemingly out of place.

Walking through the crowd without paying much notice to the people that went either silent around him or stood to attention when he passed, was a large behemoth of a man. He stood nearly a good two feet above the others and Vincent estimated his height to be seven feet. His body frame was enormous, with broad muscular shoulders that were nearly as wide as a normal person was tall. His hair was bright white and was kept close to his head in a military-style cut. Vincent strained his enhanced eyes to see what it was that this mystery man was carrying, but he could only make out a large satchel under his left arm.

The man continued to walk through the crowd, but as if he could tell that someone was watching him, he paused briefly and looked directly at Vincent. Vincent briefly thought that the man could see him, but this was nearly impossible; the distance between the two was nearly two hundred yards. Whatever the man was looking at, he brushed it aside and continued to walk in the same direction that he was before.

Vincent raised his eyebrow in an inquisitive look, and watched the man disappear into an alleyway. In one swift motion, Vincent jumped from the fire escape to the roof of the building and silently ran to the alleyway that he had seen the man disappear into, jumping from rooftop to rooftop the entire time. When he reached the alley in question, he silently fell down and landed in a crouch, his right hand resting on the grip of Cerberus. But all signs of the large mysterious man were gone. Vincent slowly moved his eyes over the entire area, and after deciding that he had lost track of the man, he jumped back up to the roof and continued to survey the crowd.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The main headquarters for the WRO was a massive facility that covered over four square miles of land twenty miles to the South-East of Edge. The facility contained massive hangars for airships, airplanes, and helicopters; large warehouses that contained everything from emergency food rations to state of the art weapons; training facilities for WRO troopers; research and development facilities; and numerous personnel buildings that varied from simple housing to office buildings. The largest of these office buildings contained the main office of every branch, including the personal office of Commissioner Tuesti.

The security guard that ran the checkpoint smiled widely as Cloud drove past, briefly waving at the blonde haired man. Many of the WRO personnel knew who Cloud was and rarely if ever asked him any questions.

Cloud pulled Fenrir up right next to the building and parked next to the long black and chromed sedan that he knew was Reeve's. As Cloud removed his sunglasses, he looked up at the large fifteen-story building. The main edifice of the building was predominantly glass, which was now reflecting the mid morning sun with a ferocious glare. Cloud briefly thought about keeping his sunglasses on, but shrugged the idea off as he began to walk in. For reasons that Cloud couldn't understand, he always had a strange feeling when entering this building. Perhaps it was the fact that everyone always seemed to stare at him, murmuring that he was the one who had defeated Sephiroth and ended the Jenova War. Or, perhaps it was because this building vaguely reminded him of the Shinra building, with its large atrium and glass walled elevators.

It was into one of these elevators that Cloud now entered, hit the button for the 15th floor, and briefly turned around to watch the marble tiled floor shrink further and further away. When the elevator pinged with a light, sharp bell, the brass doors opened and Cloud exited and headed to the farthest door on the right hand side in the Eastern Wing. The doorframe was made out of what looked like Gonganan Redwood with a frosted privacy glass window. On the window in thick black lettering was "Commissioner Reeve Tuesti" with the WRO emblem below it.

Cloud opened the door and entered the outer office where the secretary was busy typing on her computer. He couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a low cut blouse that revealed her rather well endowed breasts. He quickly looked away and scanned the rest of the outer office. There were a few pictures hanging on the walls, mainly of Reeve showing the different feats that the WRO had accomplished in the past four years. Several potted plants reached towards the ceiling, but whether they were real or not he couldn't tell. There was a large leather sofa along the farthest wall from the secretary that was there for guests to sit on and wait to be called into the Commissioner's inner office, which was through another door at the far end of the room.

The blonde secretary pushed her round gold rimmed glasses up her nose and removed the lollipop that she was sucking in an inappropriate manner. She batted her eyes and smiled at Cloud before she hit a switch on her intercom.

"Sir? Mr. Strife is here."

"_Good, send him in._"

"You can go in," she said with a smile. Cloud lightly nodded and tried to smile at her but he could only raise the corner of his mouth in a weak attempt. As he entered the inner office, the secretary ran her tongue over her lollipop as she watched Cloud's backside disappear.

The inner office was much smaller than the one Cloud just left. The far wall was all windows, with dark blue drapes pulled to the sides. There were two plush chairs in front of the main desk, which was covered in red leather. Sitting in the large red leather chair on the opposite side was Reeve Tuesti, who was wearing a blue suit in a Wutai style. Reeve quickly stood from his desk and motioned for Cloud to take a seat.

"Good of you to make it, Cloud. How's business been?" Reeve asked in a manner that said he didn't really care how Cloud's business was doing. Cloud caught this but knew that Reeve was only making small talk before he got down to the reason he wanted Cloud to be here.

"You said that there was something important you wanted to tell me?" Cloud said as he sat down. Reeve nodded and cleared his throat. Cloud knew this was Reeve's gesture before he went into one of his big speeches.

"Cloud, I'm sure that you're aware of the many riots that have been breaking out in cities around the world." Cloud knew about the ones in Junon, but he had heard nothing about there being riots in other cities around the world.

"I thought they were only in Junon," Cloud said more or less to himself. Reeve cocked an eyebrow and gave Cloud an inquisitive look.

"It's been all over the news channels. Surely you've seen them on the T.V.?"

"I don't watch it much," Cloud said. It was true; Cloud's line of work kept him away and on the road much of the time. When he was home, he rarely spent it watching television.

"Oh, well. The news channels have had a few stories showcasing the protests, but they only report on about a third of them. There've been protests in nearly every major city, town, village, and hamlet around the world. And every single one of them wants the same thing. They want the WRO to stop "interfering", as they say, in their local politics and step back from our global position. I know that a lot of people are fearing that the WRO might become something like the old Shinra Corporation, but we simply can't do what they want. That would be a major step backwards in politics." Cloud blinked a few times while trying to stay focused. Reeve always loved to talk politics but it wasn't Cloud's area of expertise.

"I'm not really into politics, Reeve," Cloud said as he shook his head. Reeve let out a long breath and nodded his head slowly.

"Well, regardless. You've seen what the situation is like in Junon. Now that's the worst case of protesting by far, and we've been lucky that no other cities are experiencing that level of unrest." Reeve paused briefly and looked Cloud in the eyes as he leaned forward onto his leather-covered desk.

"While you were in Junon, did you see any of these people who call themselves Returners?" Cloud smirked as he remembered the three hoodlums that he had ran into.

"Yeah, three of them tried to fight me." Reeve smiled at Cloud's choice of "tried".

"Well, it's these Returners that started the whole business. About six months ago, after the Deep Ground affair cooled off, members of this group started to appear in towns, slowly building support for their cause. At first, we wrote it off as just being normal opposition to authority, but then they started to become more organized. Before we knew it, they had established groups of militant recruitment and training camps all over where they seemed to be preparing for some sort of war. We were able to shut down the majority of them without bringing focus onto ourselves, but the group in Junon caught wind of what was happening and they went underground." Cloud shifted in his chair and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Did you use the WRO soldiers to bring the groups down?" Cloud knew that the WRO troopers were effective when they needed to be, but the majority of its members lacked the type of discipline it needed to keep something like this under wraps. Plus, the press was always looking for something to pin on the WRO, and paid well for anything they could use. Cloud wasn't saying that it was impossible for the troops to keep it a secret, but it was highly unlikely when dealing with the fact that so many people would have been in on it.

Reeve lightly smiled, though it seemed forced, and shifted uneasily in his chair. "No, the Army was kept out of it. We used a more, _professional_, department to take care of it." Cloud gave Reeve a skeptical look, and Reeve lightly shrugged.

"What department would that be?"

"The Department of Intelligence and Investigations, or D.I.I. as we call them," Reeve said as he picked up a pen and began tapping it on the desk. Cloud lightly smiled at Reeve's nervous tick.

"Department of Intelligence and Investigations? You mean the Turks?" Reeve sighed and put the pen down.

"Yes, but they aren't called the Turks anymore. I know that they're synonymous with the old Shinra Regime, but they have their uses. Besides, my financer wanted them to have an official position within the WRO, and they've come in handy." Cloud lightly nodded and knew that Reeve was meaning Rufus Shinra, who last time he checked was changing the names on several of his products to make people distance the stuff from the old regime.

"Anyway, the D.I.I. have been conducting an investigation into the Returners and think that they may be cooking up something big, something that could detrimentally effect our efforts at sustaining peace in the world; something that may potentially all ready be in the works. That's where I need you, Cloud." Cloud narrowed his brow and looked Reeve in the eye. Whatever this was, it must be important enough to tell Cloud all about the Returners and their now defunct training camps.

Reeve could tell that Cloud was now giving him his undivided attention, and let out a sigh as he tried to figure out how best to say it. He stood from his chair, and with his hands behind his back, he looked out of the window at the ground below.

"As you know, Cloud, the WRO has bases all over the world. Almost all of them are for our peacekeeping forces; housing, supply deposits, medical facilities, things like that."

"_Almost_ all of them?" Cloud asked.

"Yes, most of them," Reeve said as he turned back around to face Cloud. "But there are a few that are classified as being top secret. Mainly these are facilities that develop and research both new weapons and medicines. But we do have one facility that is kept secret because what it contains is of a very sensitive nature and it's best that it's kept under a strict lock and key."

"What is it?" Cloud asked, much like a child who sees something strange for the first time.

"Data," Reeve said as he again took his seat. Cloud narrowed his brow as he wondered just what sort of data could be deemed so important that a top-secret facility would be built to keep it. When he realized what it could be, he looked up and Reeve confirmed his guess.

"That's right. Every file ever committed on the Jenova Experiment, the SOLDIER Program, and the recently discovered Deep Ground Initiative. In this one facility, we keep all of these files, literally thousands, under a heavily guarded server with the intentions of never accessing them. And it would have remained that way if not for an incident that occurred two days ago."

"What happened?" Cloud asked, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"Two nights ago at exactly 21:45, a transmission came in saying that they were under attack. Before we could get a confirmation from them, the transmission cut off. The last thing we heard was a bunch of gunfire and people screaming. Since then we've been trying to contact them but there hasn't been anything. We had two hundred and thirty three people stationed there, and yet we haven't heard anything from any of them."

"You think the Returners had something to do with this?" Reeve took in a deep breath and nodded his head tiredly.

"I believe so. All our intelligence says that they're planning something big, and this certainly fits the requirements. Cloud, I want you to go and see just what happened there." Cloud thought about what Reeve had just said and let his gaze fall to an object on Reeve's desk as he debated whether he wanted to go or not.

"Why not send Reno and Rude?" Cloud asked.

"I would if I could, but they along with Elena and Tseng are busy trying to keep any resurgent Returner elements from returning. I'd send a full contingent of troopers to do it, but that would definitely compromise the secrecy of the facility." Cloud thought about it, but shook his head.

"I dunno, I' be out a lot of gil by not making deliveries…"

"Ha, Cloud, I never took you for being such a shrewd business man," Reeve said as he smiled widely, which was a stark contrast to the seriousness of his previous demeanor. "All right. My financer has okayed the sum of 25,000; but that's only if you see the investigation all the way through to the end, whatever that might be. So will you do it Cloud?" Cloud blinked in surprise at the monetary figure. 25,000 gil was a lot of money; enough to pay for both Marlene's and Denzel's education for a good long while and let him take on fewer jobs to make ends meet. This job could very well be dangerous, Cloud knew, but to him that wasn't a deterrent. Cloud looked Reeve in the eyes and nodded firmly.

"So where is this facility?" Reeve smiled and then reached into one of the drawers in the desk to pull out a map. He then quickly turned it to face Cloud and pointed out the area on the long archipelago.

"The facility's here, roughly twenty miles east of where Mideel used to be. We called it the Mideel Data Facility." Cloud nodded and then stood from his chair. Reeve smiled and asked when Cloud was going to depart.

"Later today, after lunch." Reeve gave Cloud a confused look.

"Lunch?"

"Yeah," Cloud said as he turned and headed towards the door. "I promised Tifa I'd be home for lunch." He gave Reeve a final wave before he closed the door to the inner office. Reeve sat back down in his chair and shook his head as he let out a light laugh. Cloud really had changed. Reeve leaned back in his chair and was about to rest his eyes when his intercom rang again.

"_Sir? You wanted me to remind you of your twelve O'clock press meeting._" Reeve quickly jumped up from his chair and checked his watch. His serious conversation with Cloud had totally made him forget his important announcement to the press.

"Thank you, Mary," Reeve said as he ran his hand over his hair to make sure it was still slicked back and made his way down to the press room.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Wow, I'm really glad that this story is getting such a positive response! I've been trying to come up with a set shcedule to update this story, but it's sort of hard to predict the future. But, I will say that Chapter 6 will be posted on Monday. Up next is chapter 5, and I hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter 5

Tifa Lockhart hummed to herself as she cut the last sandwich in half and then put it on the plate with the other eleven sandwiches. It was still a few minutes before Denzel and Marlene got home for their lunch break, but Tifa always liked having everything ready for them. She took the plate of sandwiches over to the table and then placed smaller plates around at every chair: one for Denzel, one for Marlene, one for herself, one for Barret, one for Shelke, and the last for Cloud. It used to be that she would have apprehensions about putting a plate down for Cloud, since he would sometimes not show up when he said he would, but he did say that he would be here, and Tifa liked to think that he had changed.

She then went to the bar area and pulled several glasses out of the counter, and began to fill them with what she knew each person liked to drink. Both Denzel and Marlene liked to drink a mix of orange and pineapple juice, so she filled two glasses with ice and poured in the juice from a pitcher that she kept in an ice box. Barret liked to drink a beer for lunch, but since Tifa thought it was too early for that, she poured him a glass of milk instead. Tifa liked iced tea with a squeeze of orange, so she poured herself a glass and then looked towards Shelke, who was sitting at the table nearest the window working on her laptop computer.

"Shelke, what do you want to drink for lunch?" Shelke's deep ocean blue colored eyes looked at Tifa and she lightly shrugged. Shelke was the only non-consistent person living in the household; she liked to try something new almost everyday.

"I'll try a Cherry Cola, if it is any good," Shelke said. Tifa smiled and nodded as she filled a glass with cherry syrup and topped it off with cola.

"It's good, one of Marlene's favorites. It has a lot of sugar though, so I have to limit her to just a few." Tifa then filled another glass with ice water, Cloud's preferred drink with a meal. Though it was plain and simple, it was one of the many quarks about Cloud that Tifa liked. Just like how he liked his sandwiches to have the crust cut off. Tifa was about to place the glasses on a tray when the usual clatter of midday programming on the television abruptly stopped and was replaced by the urgent sounding music of a news flash.

"_We now interrupt your usually scheduled program to bring you this message from Commissioner Tuesti."_

"_Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, and everyone watching around the world. As you have undoubtedly heard, the city of Junon is becoming a breeding ground of unrest and violence at the hand of the group who call themselves the Returners. All peaceful and diplomatic attempts at reasoning with this group have proven ineffective, though I will not give up on the hope that a peaceful solution can be attained. But for the safety of the citizens of Junon, I am ordering an evacuation effort that will commence immediately. All citizens that wish to evacuate for their own safety can do so under the safety of the WRO armed forces. As for those members of the Returners that wish to stay, I hope that a peaceful solution to our problems can be reached. I thank you all for listening, and have a good day."_

"_Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Commissioner Reeve Tuesti has given the order to evacuate all civilians for their own security. What does this action do towards reaching a peace with the Returners? Will it make them realize that Tuesti and the WRO are willing to negotiate, or will it only steel the Returners resolve and add more fuel to their anti-WRO fire? We now go to our panel of expert for their assessment…_"

Tifa turned the television off, not wanting it's serious overtones to effect their lunchtime, and then placed the drinks on the tray. As Tifa brought the tray of drinks over to the table, Barret entered the front door with the two kids.

"Hey, Mama, you got lunch ready all ready?" Barret said as he rubbed his left hand against his metallic right one. Both Denzel and Marlene ran over to Tifa, gave her a hug, and then sat down by their drinks. Shelke closed her laptop and then came over, sitting besides Denzel and sipped her Cherry Cola. After she decided that she liked it, she took another sip and smiled. Barret plopped down into his chair, kicked his feet up onto the next chair that was meant for Cloud, and picked up his glass of milk with a look of disgust.

"Hey, what is this?" Both Tifa and Marlene shared a wink and then let out a laugh.

"It's milk, it's better for you," Tifa said as she sat down.

"Yea, it's better for ya!" Marlene said as she smiled widely at her father. Barret grumbled to himself, but drank from the glass anyway. Tifa waited a minute before she started to pass out the sandwiches to give time for Cloud to show up. But after two minutes, and having to refill Barret's milk, she sighed and began to pass out the sandwich halves. Both Denzel and Marlene looked at each other and knew that Tifa was about to become upset, but as if he were right on cue, they all heard the familiar sound of Cloud's motorcycle pull up and stop outside. Sure enough, Cloud entered and gave a light smile to everyone.

"Cloud!" both Denzel and Marlene yelled as they jumped from their seats and ran to him. Cloud had to quickly brace himself when Marlene jumped at him, and he then picked her up.

"Ooph, Marlene, you're getting too big to pick up," Cloud said with a joking grin. He then grabbed Denzel with his free arm and ruffled his hair. "How've you been doing in school?"

"Okay, I guess," Denzel said as he shrugged his shoulders. Cloud himself couldn't say anything, after all when he was in school he did about average; Tifa was the one who always got high-grade marks. Cloud put Marlene down and they went over to the table.

"Hey Spikey! You forget we eat lunch at noon here?" Barret said as he took his feet off of the chair with a motion that kicked it away from the table enough for Cloud to sit down. Cloud shrugged and nodded hello to Shelke, who nodded back in return. Tifa gave Cloud a loving smile, and Cloud briefly took her hand and gave it a firm squeeze before he sat down. Cloud's inability to show affection in front of others was another quark of his that Tifa found cute.

As Cloud helped pass the sandwiches around, he apologized for being late.

"Sorry I'm late, but I had to stop and see Reeve about something." When he said this, Tifa looked up briefly but then went back to handing out the sandwiches.

"What that ol' bastard want to see you 'bout?" Barret said with his mouth full of food. Cloud paused as he was about to take a bite from his sandwich and saw that everyone was looking at him. He let out a sigh and lightly shrugged his shoulders.

"He wanted to offer me a job," Cloud said and then took a bite out of his sandwich. Barret was still not content with Cloud's answer and probed on.

"A job 'bout what?" But before Cloud could respond, Tifa cleared her throat and looked at Denzel.

"So Denzel, you remember that Nanaki is going to get her today and help you with your English paper, right?" Before Barret could but in and ask why she had interrupted his and Cloud's conversation, she gave him a quick kick under the table to keep him silent. Barret swallowed a full mouthful of his sandwich at the kick, and coughed as he rubbed his shin. He was going to protest, but the sharp look she gave him kept it to himself.

The rest of their meal was filled with light conversation and when it was done, Marlene and Denzel helped out by clearing the table. When they were both out of earshot, Barret again asked Cloud what sort of job it was, but this time in a much lower voice. Cloud briefly looked at Tifa, who was leaning closer on the table, and lightly shrugged his shoulders.

"Reeve thinks that some anti-WRO group broke into a secret facility in Mideel-"

"The Mideel Data Facility," Shelke said matter-of-factly between sips of her Cherry Cola. Cloud raised an eyebrow at her and lightly nodded his head.

"Yeah. How did you know that place was there?" Shelke placed her now empty glass on the table and looked Cloud straight in the eyes.

"Deep Ground knew about a lot of things, Cloud Strife," Shelke said with a hint of regret. Cloud lightly nodded and looked away, sorry that he had made her remember the organization that she was now trying to forget.

"Well, Reeve wants me to go and check it out. The facility held all the records of the Jenova Project, and he thinks that they might somehow use that against the WRO." Barret thought about this for a moment as he flexed his metallic right hand, making the slightest sounds with the servomotors with every move.

"You need some backup on this one?" Barret said.

"No," Cloud said as he shook his head. "It shouldn't be that big of a deal. More travel time than anything else." Barret made a small sound that showed that he had lost interest and leaned back in his chair. Shelke stood from her chair and before going back to her computer, she looked Cloud directly in the eyes again.

"Be careful, Cloud Strife." Cloud nodded and then looked at Tifa, who had stood from the table but also had a small look of concern.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked her. She seemed for a moment to be lost in a trance, but she snapped out of it and lightly shook her head.

"Oh, it's nothing. But I have this feeling that this could be something more than just what Reeve thinks it is." Cloud shrugged and took in a deep breath.

"Well, whatever it is, the pay's too good to pass up. Reeve's going to pay me 25,000 to go through with the investigation." Barret suddenly sounded interested again and sat up in his chair.

"Sheeiit, I'd train a damned monkey to ride a football if Reeve paid me that much to. Hell, with that much money you wouldn't have to take on so many jobs."

"Yeah, it would definitely make things easier around here," Cloud said as he finished his ice water. Tifa shrugged and nodded, but something about it still nagged at her.

"Well, it would. But just be careful Cloud, okay?" Cloud gave Tifa a wide smile and nodded. Tifa smiled back and then took the last four glasses off of the table and brought them to the sink. Cloud stretched his arms way above his head, and then called to Denzel.

"Hey Denzel? Would you do me a favor and fetch the maps for the Southern part of the Eastern Continent?" Denzel enthusiastically said yes and then ran up the stairs to Cloud's office. Within only a few moments, the sound of Denzel running down the stairs echoed through the bar and soon, and out of breath, he appeared and handed the rolled up map to Cloud.

Cloud thanked him and then unrolled the map. In the three years that he had been making deliveries, he had never had to go as far south as Mideel before. Slowly he traced his finger over the Zolom Expressway, which was a massive bridged freeway that expanded for nearly twenty miles across the swampy marshlands and entered into the old Mythril Mine; yet another accomplishment of the WRO Corps of Engineers. The highway exited on the other side of the mountain range and then curved past Mount Condor and continued northwest until it reached Junon. Cloud had only taken this freeway once when he had to make a delivery to Mount Condor. Normally if he wanted to go to Junon, he took the new Mythril Expressway, which went southwest from Edge past the ruins of Midgar, curved around several of the mountains, then ran along side the Junon River until it reached Junon. That same route had once been used by the transcontinental railroad during the Wutai War, but after the Sector 7 plate collapsed, the railway became useless because the station was in Sector 7.

Cloud could tell that he was going to have to take several back roads to make it to Mideel. From the Zolom Expressway, he was going to have to exit once he left the Mythril Mine and then head south. From there, there were several two-lane bridges that connected several small islands together. From there he would be on the Northern most barrier island. His map showed a bridge that crossed the Straits of Balthier, and from there he would be on the Mideel subcontinent. All in all, it would take Cloud over thirteen hours of driving, by his estimate.

After he had driven both Denzel and Marlene back to school, Cloud came back and got ready for the long road trip ahead of him. Tifa had packed him a few sandwiches, with the crust cut off, and forced him to give her a kiss, something that made him turn a deep shade of red as Barret laughed at him. Cloud then pulled his sunglasses down, made sure they were on tight by the bridge of his nose, and then spun his rear tire out in a trail of smoke as he took off.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Well, as Cheech Marin said in his cameo appearance in Ghostbusters II, "Well, better late than never..."

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Chapter 6

Cloud briefly came to a stop when he was on top of a hill, looking down at what must be the Mideel Data Facility. The trip had taken longer than he had expected since several of the roads on the map were not yet completed. Nearly the entirety of the barrier islands had no paved road system to speak of, so Cloud had to try and travel by dirt paths that cut in and out of forests and grassy fields. Several times he had to backtrack after discovering that his path was blocked. The fact that he hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours was becoming painfully aware to him, but now that he saw his destination, his adrenaline began to flow and he was wide-awake.

It was nearly 5:30 in the morning, and the sun was beginning to show along the ocean horizon in the distance. The small amount of light that was now beginning to flood the area colored the forest in a light mix of orange and purple. A dense palatable fog covered the entire area and illuminated a straight blueish beam from Fenrir's headlight. The facility itself was ominously quiet and dark. The new day sun hadn't hit the uppermost portion of the building, but if it did it wouldn't make it look any more pleasant.

The structure itself was a dull flat gray bricked building that had its walls slightly tilted inwards, creating a shape like a pyramid, except the roofline was flat. Around this building were several smaller structures, most probably barrack buildings for the security personnel that Reeve said were stationed there. Surrounding the facility was a tall wall that was solid steel with razor wire at the top that glistened in the morning dew. Cloud could see a square section of the wall that was now open and figured that this was the main entry gate. Cloud tweaked the throttle of his motorcycle and then drove on to the gate.

When he reached the gate, he killed the motor and set the kickstand. However Cloud felt about the facility when he saw it from afar was nothing compared to the sensation he got when he was there. Something wasn't right here, that much he was sure. Where there should have been sentries posted, there were only vacant watchtowers. The smell in the air wasn't comforting either; it smelled of death.

Cloud hit the switch to open the sword storage compartments and carefully removed the main blade of the First Tsurugi, all the while listening to any sign that might betray some sort of attacker. Once he had the large blade in his hand, he then chose to take two more; the large sword that's handle was integrated into the blade and one of the long thin swords with the serrated back. For a moment, he thought about assembling all three together, but instead only placed the large blade onto the main one, which made it look slightly like his old buster sword.

With the main blade in his right hand and the long thin one in his left, he stepped off of his motorcycle and walked towards the entryway. As soon as he stepped beyond the threshold, he stopped and saw the level of carnage that had taken place here.

The security gate was laying in two separate pieces nearly twenty yards into the main courtyard. The steel alloy hinges that once held the gate were now twisted and splintered; whatever had hit it had done it with such a tremendous force that made Cloud think that this couldn't have been done by the same group of protestors that he had ran into in Junon.

The inner walls of the compound were covered with pockmarks and large chips made from a barrage of bullets, however there was no blood spattering anywhere along the wall at his back. However, the further that Cloud walked in, he started to see evidence of blood.

There were puddles of rainwater everywhere, and many of them had a dried crust of red blood circled around them. When Cloud reached the first over turned barricade that must have been used for cover, he saw a large stain of blood on the ground and several dropped assault rifles that were now covered in mud. Something briefly shined in the mud, and Cloud pulled out a tarnished nametag that said 'W. Carter.' Cloud briefly paused for a moment when he realized that there weren't any bodies laying anywhere, only loose debris of torn uniforms and empty bullet casings. It was then that he saw the many prints and drag marks in the dried mud that covered the entire area of the ground. Cloud bent down to get a better look at them and recognized the marks to be that of Guard Hounds.

Cloud then stood up quickly and listened carefully to the air to see if he could hear any sound of the animals. Guard Hounds usually hunted in packs, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. If everyone that was stationed in this facility were killed, there would be plenty of meat for a large pack of Guard Hounds to eat for some time.

Cloud brushed the unpleasant thought aside and continued to walk carefully into the main building. Once he stepped through the destroyed security door, Cloud paused to let his eyes adjust to the darkness inside.

The hallway in front of him was dark and ominous; the fluorescent lights on the ceiling were flickering as they slowly died, lighting the hallway in a half attempt that helped to hide the true level of carnage that had occurred. Just like outside, the marks and scars from missed and ricocheted bullets covered the walls and floor. The streaks of blood inside were much more prominent than the ones outside since there was no rain to help wash it away. The smell was a strange mix of cordite, blood, and rotting meat. The air inside was also rather heavy with the humidity that was coming in from outside.

Cloud began to move forward into the building, the only sound he heard was the flickering hum from the lights and his own boots hitting the floor. Occasionally he heard the tinkling of the brass bullet casings skitter along the floor when he kicked them as he walked.

As Cloud moved deeper into the building, he passed what must have been security checkpoints. All of these that he had encountered were destroyed, either smashed with some tremendous force, or sliced in two by a sharp blade. Cloud briefly looked at these and continued on until he reached a door that was hanging loosely on its hinges. On the door were the words:

Main Mainframe Terminal

All Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out

He knew that whatever the attackers wanted, it was in this room. Before Cloud stepped into the room, he thought he heard a sound of something hitting some of the brass casings down a further hallway, but after he paused for a moment to see if he could hear it again and didn't, he entered the room.

The interior of this room was rather small, with a desk on the opposite wall and a computer access terminal on it and a printer. Above the desk was a glass window that looked out at the large collection of server mainframes, all of which were still in working order. Along the top of the window were several monitors, but all of these were only showing flickering snow.

Cloud went to the computer terminal and looked at the keyboard. On several of the keys were marks of dried blood. Also, at a point on the desk, was a small pool of congealed blood. Cloud figured that this was caused by the attacker leaning his weapon against the desk to use the computer. When Cloud hit the spacebar key, the monitor came to life and showed a simple list of five commands and a blinking cursor at the bottom. Cloud leaned forward and read the commands.

Access File by Number

Access File by Name

Access File by Subject

Access Log History

Access Other Functions

Cloud had never said that he was an expert at computers, but he did have a basic knowledge of how to use them. He pushed the number 4 and hit enter. The screen was replaced by a long listing of files and the date and time when they were accessed last. He narrowed his brow as he looked at the long list. Some of them had names next to the file numbers, such as 'Mako Radiation Therapy Procedure' and 'Jenova Cell Injection Procedure.' Another file with a name said 'Report on Stagnant Mako,' but Cloud had no idea what that was. The next file that had a name was even more confusing. 'Project X' but next to this name were the words "File Deleted at Server."

He frowned at this, but then hit the down button and the screen shifted to the next set of files that were below the others on the screen. These files only had numbers, no names. They were all in numerical sequence starting at number 715 and ranged all the way up to 803. After Cloud saw the long list of numbers, he was about to hit one of the command key functions that was listed at the top of the screen to go back and access one of these files by its number to see what it was, but there was one more file listed at the bottom of everything. This last file was accessed nearly five minutes after the others, which was something Cloud noted as he read the file name. 'Findings inside the Deep Ground Facility.' Next to this file were again the words "File Deleted at Server."

Cloud stared at this for a moment and wondered just what the Returners would want with all of these files. The first two made Cloud think that they might want to use the files for a slander campaign against the WRO and try to connect them with the human test experiments done by the Shinra, but the rest of the files didn't match up with this theory.

After deciding that it wasn't his job to figure out what the Returners were thinking, he hit the Print command key and slightly jumped when the annoyingly loud dot-matrix printer began to print the long list out. The printer moved rather quickly, so after Cloud tore the long piece of paper off and folded it into his cargo pocket on his pants, he hit the Back command and then entered the number 1. The screen changed to a single blank with a blinking cursor. Cloud entered the file number 715 and hit enter.

"X Month, X Day

First Quarterly Report- Jenova Cell Harvestation

5 cubic centimeters of plasmatic fluid extracted.

Cell count: 5,000 plus

Allocation: Sealed and delivered to Midgar, Shinra Complex, Building B, care of Scientific Research Department, Professor Hojo residing.

Notes: Cell extraction technology and machinery working at optimal level. Possibility of higher output high."

Cloud stared at the screen for several minutes, trying to understand why this sort of information would be of any interest to the Returners. He didn't check the other 87 entries, but he was quite certain that they were all the same sort of quarterly report. Again Cloud hit the Back key until it returned to the original screen. He was about to turn and leave, but he decided to hit number 5 and see what the other functions were.

On this screen, there was another long list of different functions, many of which Cloud had no interest in. As he scanned the list of new functions, he saw one that picked his interest. It dealt with the surveillance cameras around the Facility. Cloud entered this command and a list of all the surveillance cameras came up. When this happened, the monitors above the window began to flicker more brightly.

Cloud tried to enter every camera's number, but nothing different seemed to happen. He was about to give up when he saw a History function. He input this, and then there was a list of dates, times, and camera numbers. He remembered that Reeve said the attack happened the night three days ago, so he found that log time and hit enter. Above him, the screens stopped showing snow and instead went black for a moment before they slowly came to life. What they showed was the same facility, though Cloud could hardly recognize it. Everything was pristine, with no damage whatsoever. It was raining hard everywhere outside, and Cloud could make out several of the sentry guards huddled under covered doorways. The video didn't have any sound, but Cloud could tell that something had made the sentries suddenly look towards the main gate.

Then everything seemed to happen in fast forward. The main security gate blasted open, sending shrapnel everywhere and knocked out the camera facing the gate. From the other cameras, Cloud could see the alarm light swirling around bathing the wall around it in red light. Then from every door except for the one in the main facility, WRO troopers came pouring out and began to fire at the unseen enemy. In one of the monitors, Cloud saw three young troops burst out of a barrack building together. For a brief moment they only stared at whatever it was that was attacking, but then something happened that made them start to fire. Whatever it was must have been firing back because multiple bullets started to fly in all directions away from the enemy, striking the walls and dirt ground causing sparks and splashes of mud to go everywhere.

Two of the young men fell back to one of the barricades, but the third kept standing there firing his assault rifle at the enemy. Cloud watched on and silently yelled at the kid to get behind some cover, but it was too late. The kid had ran out of ammunition, and then stared wide-eyed towards the enemy. It was then that Cloud saw what it was that was attacking.

All this time he had thought that it must have been a military trained team of professionals that came in and overpowered the WRO troops, but instead, Cloud saw one lone figure, though he was enormous and quite possibly could have been taken for being more than one man. This lone attacker wielded a weapon that Cloud had never seen before, a sort of staff with two long thin blades on each side. Quickly he swung at the kid and cut him in two. Without a second thought, the attacker turned to the group of troopers who were behind a barricade and ran towards them, all the while deflecting bullets with his double bladed sword.

As he got closer to the camera Cloud was able to get a better look. The man was huge, much larger than Barret, but he moved with a speed that seemed impossible for someone his size. Through the rain and constant muzzle flares, he could barely make out what the attacker was wearing. But then through a flash of lightning, he got a clear look at him and instantly Cloud opened his eyes wide and took in a deep breath. The attacker was wearing a uniform that Cloud knew all too well; it was the uniform of a member of SOLDIER. To bolster this theory, Cloud saw the man's glowing pale blue eyes that was a sign of Mako infusion. But something about these eyes caught Cloud as strange, because while Mako eyes were always described as having a strange glow to them, the eyes of this attacker actually put off a faint light of their own. Cloud had never heard of this before and wondered just what that could be.

Eventually, one by one, the cameras were taken out until all of the monitors showed the fuzzy snow, so Cloud let out a breath and decided that it was time to leave this hell and report what he had found to Reeve.

When Cloud stepped out into the hallway, something swept by in his peripheral vision to his left. When he looked, there was only the empty hallway. Cautiously he made his way to the exit, but as he got closer, he heard another sound, this one more distinct than the others; the bark of a Guard Hound. Cloud slowly turned his head and saw the snarling form of a Guard Hound standing at the end of the hallway. Cloud knew from experience that these animals were never alone and soon he was vindicated by hearing the sound of paws pattering, claws clicking, and brass casings skittering along the hard floor. Cloud wasn't sure of just how many of the animals there were, but the sounds were coming from all sides, filling the empty building with dread.

As quickly as he could without moving too fast to make the animals begin their attack, Cloud made his way out of the building and back into the main courtyard. When he reached this, he heard the snarl of more Guard Hounds from behind him, and turned to see dozens of the vile carnivores coming out of every building possible, many of them with bits of flesh and blood dripping from their fangs.

Cloud could tell that this was going to be a hard fight, but now that he was in the open he brandished his two swords with comfort. For a moment, all of the animals only snarled and barked at him until the Alpha Hound, the one that Cloud had seen first in the hallway, emerged from the main building and jumped onto one of the barricades. Cloud looked this one in the eye as it slowly raised its lip in a snarl, revealing its stained yellow fangs. Cloud hunched himself down into a combat stance and sneered at the fell beast. With a swift motion, the Alpha Hound reared back its head and howled, the signal for his pack to attack.

Suddenly all one hundred of the animals charged him, and Cloud swiftly began to swing both of his swords around at them, hitting and killing with a lightning fast proficiency. But as fast as Cloud was, there were just too many of the beasts for him to take on without getting injured. One of them bit his ankle and while Cloud severed its head with a single swing, another slashed his right arm, cutting him deep.

Cloud, wincing with the pain that was now coursing through his right arm, hurled himself into the air and with one fluid motion, attached the serrated blade to the Tsurugi and held it high and above his back. As he channeled his strength into the blade, it became covered with an ethereal flame of spirit energy. Then in one devastating blow, Cloud lunged forward towards the ground and the main mass of snarling foaming Guard Hounds and smashed the ground. When the blade hit, it sent a rippling wave of white hot energy away from the impact epicenter, striking every last Guard Hound and sending them flying. The energy laden flames turned a shade of blue as they consumed the Hounds, and when they dissipated, all that was left were the charred bodies of Cloud's attackers.

Cloud let out a sigh of relief, and placed his sword into his back harness. He lightly cringed when he saw the deep cuts on his arm made by a Hound and flexed his right hand to make sure it still worked properly. In the rear compartment of Fenrir he kept a medical kit, and he opened this and pulled out a few bandages and a hi-potion. Lightly he dabbed some of the potion onto the bandage and wiped the wound down. After it was cleaned, and it was already starting to heal, he placed a fresh bandage over it and put up his med kit.

He jumped onto the seat of Fenrir and opened his cell phone to call Reeve. After a few rings, Reeve answered.

"_Hey Cloud, what did you find out?_"

"A lot. Everyone inside the facility is dead, and it was attacked by only one man."

"_What?_" Cloud could hear the surprise in Reeve's voice. "_Was he a Returner?_"

"No, I don't think so. I think it was a SOLDIER." There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. Cloud was about to check his signal strength to see if he dropped the call when Reeve finally spoke up.

"_How soon can you get to Mount Condor?_"

"Not long, why?" Cloud asked as he checked his watch.

"_Get there as soon as you can. I'll call Cid and have him send an airship to pick you up there and bring you back to Headquarters. Sounds like this could be a lot worse than I feared._" Cloud gave an affirmative and hung up the phone. As he started Fenrir, a hesitant weak smile crossed his face when he imagined Tifa giving him the I-told-you-so look.

Within a few hours, Cloud was at Mount Condor and watched as the deck crew loaded up his motorcycle into the cargo hold. The captain of this airship was a middle-aged female, and she told Cloud that they would be arriving at HQ in three hours. Cloud was then given a small but comfortable cabin where he took the opportunity to catch up on some much needed rest.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Vincent Valentine watched from a rooftop as one of the last groups of citizens was helped into a WRO transport and taken to the airport for evacuation. He had been watching the evacuations since they began yesterday, and though the regular ranks of protestors did nothing to hamper their efforts, the Returners openly opposed them, even throwing rocks at the evacuating people, all the while calling them cowards and sheep. The rude actions of the Returners had even caused some of the regular protestors to abandon their efforts and leave the city. So far the WRO troopers were able to handle the situation, but Vincent wasn't going to let that lower his defenses.

However, even with the evacuation nearing completion, the Returners' ranks were growing by the minute. For every one person the WRO evacuated, the Returners brought in 3. Vincent had tried to look into how they were getting people into the city, but there were just too many ways in for him to handle. Briefly he thought about shutting down the elevator to the lower city, but this would have hampered the evacuation efforts, so he decided against it. For the time being, he would have to be content with the Returners' numbers swelling. The idea did not sit well with him but since the city was about to be devoid of all innocent people he let it pass.

Vincent wasn't sure exactly what Reeve was going to do about the present situation once everyone was evacuated; it seemed to him that the Returners were using an empty Junon as a point to finally confront the WRO, most probably with open combat. Up to this point, Vincent had not seen any large weapons, only batons and other typical close quarter tools. However, he wasn't putting it past them to have weapons stashed that had more of an impact in a fight.

The sounds of yelling people made Vincent look several blocks over, and he instantly bounded from rooftop to rooftop until he looked down on what was creating the noise. Below him, he saw a poorly outnumbered three WRO troops trying to help an elderly man get into a transport while ten Returners were yelling and giving them a hard time. Vincent watched with his hand resting on the grip of Cerberus as one of the Returners spit on a WRO troop. The troop responded by trying to push the offensive Returner away, but before the trooper could notice, the Returners were puling concealed pistols out of their blue uniforms.

But before the Returners could even grin, gunshots rang out in rapid succession and all of their pistols flew out of their hands. As they grabbed their hands in shock, they heard a booming voice call out from above.

"You should learn how to use those before you pull them," Vincent said as he sneered down at the uniformed hoodlums. The ten Returners looked up at him, most of them with looks of fear in their eyes as they watched the dark figure peer down at them, his red tattered cloak billowing behind him in the wind. For a moment, everyone just stood in silence looking at Vincent. Finally one of the Returners blinked, and slowly they all began to leave the area, mumbling to themselves, trying to bolster their confidence by saying that they could have taken the mystery guy if they had a fair fight. Vincent let out a sneer as they left and holstered Cerberus. The three WRO troops looked up and nodded their thanks, and Vincent gave them a quick nod before he moved on back towards the main city square.

Once he was back looking down at the area where the protests were taking place, he noted that the regular protestor numbers were nearly gone, all replaced by blue overall wearing Returners. Vincent guessed that their numbers were somewhere over ten thousand, and again he became concerned about what Reeve's plan was to deal with them.

Even though Vincent had a phone, he rarely liked to use it (he didn't like to think of himself as being accessible). He decided to put his apprehensions behind him and reached for his phone to call Reeve. But as he flipped the phone open, a large cheer from the crowd of Returners made him look up. Vincent focused on where the cheers were directed and saw the behemoth man that he had tried to follow two days ago walking through the crowd. Along side of him was a much shorter man, though when compared to his companion there was no other way of describing him. The shorter of the two had dark red hair and red hued eyes that seemed to emit their own luminescence. As the two walked through the crowd, the red headed one lightly nodded and said a few words to the cheering crowd. Whatever it was that he was saying to the Returners, they seemed to be listening with their full attention. Vincent raised his eyebrow at this and continued to watch the two walk through the crowd. The red head continued to talk briefly to the crowd while the taller one looked annoyed at the constant attention the crowd was giving them.

It didn't take much to realize that these two men must be the leaders of the Returners, or at least highly respected. For a moment, Vincent thought that they might be about to give a sort of speech for a rally, but when he noticed that both men were carrying full packs on their backs, he realized that they were about to go somewhere. Vincent briefly debating following them. While he didn't want to leave the city in case the Returners started any acts of violence, the last of the civilians were about to leave the city, therefore only leaving the WRO forces that were quite capable of defending themselves. Before Vincent lost sight of the two men, he made his decision and followed them, all the while being concealed in the shadows.

* * *

Cloud walked at a brisk pace through the airport at the WRO Headquarters. The flight crew of the airship that had brought him here was unloading Fenrir, but he didn't wait for it to report what he had found to Reeve. Waiting for him at the entryway into the main building was a young WRO army officer.

"Sir, the Commissioner wanted me to inform you that he is in the debriefing room. If you'll follow me, I can take you there." Cloud nodded and followed the young man into the building, and after going through several guarded doors and hallways, the young man stopped at a doorway and motioned for Cloud to enter.

When Cloud stepped through, he found a rather large room with an enormous electronic map of the world on the wall. In the center of the room was a large round table that had several lights shining on the map that was placed on its surface. Reeve was standing looking at it with several other men, all of whom were wearing uniforms. Reeve looked up at Cloud and briefly said something to the men before he motioned for Cloud to follow him into an adjoining office. As Cloud walked past the table, he recognized the men's uniforms to be that of Generals in the WRO armed forces. He briefly looked down at the table and saw a detailed map of Junon with several markers placed at certain points representing fighting units. When both Reeve and Cloud entered the office, Reeve closed the door and walked to a chair behind a small workstation.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were planning on attacking the Returners in Junon," Cloud said as he nodded towards the room they just left. Reeve turned the palms of his hands upwards and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I'm still hoping for a diplomatic solution, but I can't rule out the possibility of having to use military force. Really, it's up to them whether we fight or not. But that's neither here nor there; tell me what you found in the Facility." Cloud let out a breath before he went into the details.

"The facility's a wreck. When I got there I found the main gate in pieces inside the courtyard. Inside, there were signs of a heavily fought battle but no survivors. At first I thought that it had to have been attacked by a whole battalion, but when I entered the main facility and found the mainframe room, the security cameras showed something completely different."

"That's what makes you think it was a SOLDIER?" Reeve asked. Cloud nodded and explained.

"All of the security cameras were knocked out of order, but the mainframe and computer terminal were working fine. I was able to access the video records and saw the attack. The only attacker I saw was a massively huge guy, bigger than Barret. He was using some sort of dual bladed sword and he was deflecting everyone's bullets that were fired at him. I saw him cut some of the troopers in two before he came closer to the camera. Before it cut out, I got a clear view of him. There's no mistaking it, he was wearing the old uniform and his eyes had the Mako glow, though they seemed to emit their own light, but that could have just been the lighting. I'm not sure, the video quality wasn't the best."

"Still, it's unpleasant to think about. What else did you find?"

"Well, I was able to pull up the log history of the computer of the files that he must have accessed. I printed it out here," Cloud said as he unfolded the piece of paper and handed it to Reeve. Reeve took it and placed some half-mooned glasses on his nose before he looked over the document.

"Hmm, Mako Radiation Therapy and Jenova Cell Injection; just the files I was afraid someone would try to steal."

"I know what those two are, but I've never heard of the next one," Cloud said as he stood next to the desk to point out the name he was talking about. Reeve looked down at it and nodded.

"Ah, Stagnant Mako. Vincent or Shelke could tell you more about it, but basically it was a different sort of Mako that the Lifestream tried to isolate. After Professor Gast left Shinra, Hojo tried to inject the stuff into test subjects but apparently it didn't have the effect he was looking for or something, because he only did it to about five or six subjects."

"The Tsviets?" Cloud asked.

"Yes, it was them. Oddly enough, the Tsviets weren't injected with Jenova Cells, only Stagnant Mako. Sort of strange that Hojo wouldn't put those cells into them since he tried to put those in nearly everything he made." Reeve frowned at remembering the mad scientist and went back to looking at the list. He made a confused face and looked back up at Cloud.

"What's this Project X?" Cloud was taken back by the fact that Reeve didn't know about it.

"I thought you knew what it was. Didn't you read the files before you put them in there?" Reeve sighed and took of his glasses before he shook his head.

"Cloud, there are over four thousand files on the SOLDIER Program alone. If I took the time to read them all I still wouldn't be anywhere near the halfway point. And besides, I had more urgent matters to attend to." At this last part, Reeve motioned his hand around him, meaning that he was too busy rebuilding the world after Meteorfall. Cloud lightly ran his hand over the back of his hair and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fair enough. I guess it doesn't matter now, that giant deleted the file while he was there. Are there any other copies somewhere?" Reeve shook his head and ran his hand over the file number for Project X.

"No, I doubt it. The file number is in the nine thousands, so it was recovered from Deep Ground." Reeve dropped the document on the desk and leaned back in his chair. He let out a yawn as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he was done, he looked at Cloud and lightly shook his head. "What do you think about all this?" Cloud thought about it for a moment and then pointed down at the list.

"Well, it's kind of stupid, but at first I thought that the Returners, or whoever did this, were going to start their own SOLDIER Program. That was the impression I got when I looked at those other files that were accessed." Reeve sat back up in his chair and picked up the document, this time turning to one of the other printed pages and he looked at the long listing of just numbered files.

"These were quarterly reports," Reeve said with a narrowed brow.

"Yeah, I looked at the first one. It was a report on Jenova Cell Harvestation or something. It gave the amount of cells that were recovered and where they were shipped. The files ended at 803, which if I did my math right was only twenty-two years after the first one."

"Makes since. The quarterly reports were coming from Nibelhiem. The reports stopped after Jenova was moved to Midgar and Hojo could extract cells from there."

"Well it's all pretty useless. They can't do anything without the cells." Reeve began to nod, but then stopped dead in his tracks. Quickly he grabbed the list and began to scan through all of the folded pages, frantically looking for something. Cloud saw the instant change in Reeve's emotions and became anxiously concerned.

"What is it?" Cloud asked, but Reeve only frantically ran his finger down the list and mumbled to himself.

"Please don't be here, please don't-" but whatever it was that he was looking for, his fears were confirmed. Reeve let out an expletive and slumped over on the desk. Cloud again posed his question and Reeve simply pointed to the last file on the list.

"'Findings Inside the Deep Ground Facility'? What all was found in there?" Reeve took in a deep breath and explained.

"A lot of different stuff, Cloud; physical documents, computer files, weapons, and a vial of the last remaining Jenova Cells. Hojo must have stored it there in case of an emergency or something. When we found it, I decided to just leave the vial in the storage room we found it in and sealed the doorway. That facility was hard enough to get into and as long as the vial was unknown to anyone, I felt it would be safe there."

"But now they know where it's at," Cloud said, now understanding Reeve's urgency. Reeve stood and looked Cloud in the eyes with a newfound conviction.

"That's right. Cloud, I need you to go into Midgar, break into Deep Ground, and get that vial before this enemy does." Cloud understood the danger that the vial could do in the wrong hands. Without saying anything more, Cloud nodded and left the small office.

Back outside, the airship crew was finished unloading Fenrir, so Cloud jumped on and fired up the engine. Cloud knew that Midgar, and especially the central sector, was no place to go without being prepared. He would have to restock on his supplies before he entered the ruins, so he sped off towards Edge and 7th Heaven.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this update, but I had to format the ol' computer which was a pain in the ass.

* * *

Chapter 8

Tifa was finishing washing the last dish from lunch when she heard the loud rumble of Cloud's motorcycle come up the street and park outside the door. Even though she had tried to not show it, she had been worried about him and was fixing to call him to see if he was all right. But now that he was here, she hurriedly wiped off her hands on a towel and quickly walked from behind the bar and went towards the door. Shelke, who was at her usual position by the window stopped typing rapidly and looked out into the street. Nanaki, who was resting on the floor beside Shelke's table, looked up and yawned towards the doorway. When Cloud opened the door, the first thing Tifa noticed was the bandage wrapped around his arm.

"Cloud what happened?!?" she said as she ran up and reached for his arm.

"Hmm? Oh, a Guard Hound scratched me, it's nothing," he said, trying to not make her worry. But when she took his arm, he didn't protest. Tifa led Cloud to a chair and he sat down while she undid the loosely tied bandage. She frowned when she saw the semi-healed deep cut on his arm.

"What did you put on it?" she asked.

"I put some hi-potion on it and wrapped it up. It's nothing, really." Cloud tried to stand up but Tifa pushed him back into the chair and gave him a stern look.

"You didn't put much on it. Shelke, can you fetch me the first-aid kit behind the bar?" Shelke lightly nodded and retrieved the medical kit. When Shelke saw the wound, she looked at Cloud and lightly raised one of her eyebrows. Nanaki too was also inspecting the wound.

"One Guard Hound caught you by surprise?" Nanaki said with a slight hint of humor as he looked up at Cloud with his one good eye, his flaming tail flickering about playfully.

"There were more than just one, probably a hundred. Ow! What are you doing?" Cloud said with a wince as Tifa poured something that was a luminescent blue onto the cut. She placed the small glass bottle back on the table and put the cork stopper back in.

"Now hold still, it's only a little elixir. You should have known that a hi-potion wasn't going to do the trick." Tifa tried to keep her stern look going, but Cloud gave her his usual apologetic puppy-dog look and she lightly just shook her head and smiled. As she began to wrap Cloud's arm with another fresh bandage, Cloud looked at Shelke and tried to figure out how best to ask her what he wanted.

"Shelke, what's Stagnant Mako?" Shelke's brow lightly furrowed for a moment before it returned to normal.

"Stagnant Mako is what was injected into the Tsviets instead of the usual Jenova Cells like other members of SOLDIER." Cloud already knew that, but lightly nodded and asked another question.

"But what was it really? Reeve said it was Mako that the Lifestream tried to isolate. Is that right?" Shelke let out a sigh and pulled out a chair and sat down. For a moment she only watched as Tifa continued to wrap the bandage around Cloud's arm, but she then turned to Cloud and spoke.

"What Stagnant Mako was is difficult to explain. In essence, something foreign was introduced into the Lifestream and the Planet did not want it to integrate, or infect the Lifestream. So in defense it isolated it and it remained this way. Before, I did not know what it was that was introduced, but after hearing about your previous actions, I believe that it was Jenova." Cloud looked down at the table for a moment before he replied.

"Jenova? But how could Jenova have entered the Lifestream when the Cetra sealed her away?"

Shelke merely shrugged her shoulders and titled her head slightly.

"I have never seen Jenova, but Vincent told me that she was not fully complete." Tifa finished wrapping the bandage around Cloud's arm and placed the glass bottle back into the medical kit.

"Yeah, her head was cut off by Sephiroth in Nibelhiem," Tifa said with a tone that showed that she had not thought about those events for some time.

"Not just that," Cloud said as he tried to remember back. "Even before he did that, she wasn't completely whole. It looked like what was left of a corpse after a battle. Maybe those other parts were what contaminated the Lifestream."

"Perhaps," Shelke said and after letting a moment of silence pass, she was about to get up from her chair and return to her computer.

"Shelke, there's something else I wanted to ask you. How does someone get into Deep Ground?" At this question, Shelke's usual calm and placid demeanor collapsed and her face turned to one of shock. Both Tifa and Nanaki shared a look of uncomfortable awkwardness at the mentioning of the facility.

"Why do you want to go there, Cloud Strife?" she asked in a quiet and soft voice. Cloud cursed himself for having to push even further into a past that she was trying to escape, but he had to know.

"The same person who broke into the Mideel Data Facility might try and break into there. He's looking for something that's stored there," Cloud explained, carefully trying to not say too much. Shelke broke her gaze at Cloud's eyes and looked towards the sunlight coming in from the window. For a brief moment, Cloud thought she had phased out, but she briefly looked down at the ground and spoke.

"The only entrance to Deep Ground is the basement of the Shinra Complex, main building. Look for the President's entrance. But be warned, there were many security traps set up to impede intruders from getting too far. Many things were stored inside Deep Ground, but the best place to look for what you seek would be a section called Level 5. That was the only location that was off limits to everyone, regardless of rank." Shelke took her eyes off of the floor and looked directly at Cloud. Cloud could see that her blue eyes were filled with moisture. "I have told you once before, Cloud Strife, to be safe. Inside Deep Ground you must maintain your focus on your surroundings. It would not do well to be hurt inside, because there is no way to communicate with the outside world." Cloud realized that she was right. The Deep Ground facility was entirely underground so there was no way for a cell phone signal to penetrate its depths. Cloud returned Shelke's gaze and nodded firmly. Shelke lightly returned the gesture and went to her usual place beside the window.

Cloud slowly flexed and moved his arm with the new bandage and was about to smile his thanks to Tifa, but when he looked up, she only gave him a dirty look and motioned for him to follow her upstairs. Cloud sighed and followed her, knowing what she was mad about. When they reached the doorway to their bedroom, Tifa turned around quickly and pointed and angry finger at him.

"Why did you have to ask her about Deep Ground? You know we all agreed to not make her think about it. Damn it Cloud, that's ten years of her life she's trying to forget, and you go and bring it right back up to the surface." Cloud began to open his mouth in protest, but he knew that she was right. Shelke herself never spoke about those ten years unless it was in a resigned way. Though she had never said that she didn't want to speak about it, everyone had just agreed that it would be for the best. Cloud know knew that he had overstepped his boundary and probably only made it worse for her. After all, when Cloud himself was going through a similar situation, he never wanted to openly talk about it with just anyone; his only confidant was Tifa, and that was because there was more there than just friendship. If Shelke did speak about it to anyone, Cloud didn't know, but if he had to wager a guess he would pick Vincent. Of course he didn't know if she confided in Vincent for the same reason that he confided in Tifa, but it really didn't matter. Cloud knew that he was wrong, and he knew he had to apologize.

"I'm sorry Tifa, I guess I wasn't thinking. It's just that I need to get in there and Vincent never told me how to do it."

"Well why didn't you call Vincent?" Tifa said, folding her arms across her chest. Though she was still mad at him, it was beginning to wear off and Cloud was grateful for that.

"I dunno," Cloud said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Vincent doesn't like people calling him and Shelke was right there. I just wasn't thinking, that's all." Tifa shook her head and let out a sigh as she turned to enter their bedroom. Cloud entered behind her to collect what he needed from his supply case, but Tifa was already going through it and picking out different items.

In a neat manner, she placed several hi-potions, a small bottle of elixir, and a roll of sealed bandages on the bed. As she placed them into a small bag, Cloud reached under the bed and pulled out the large silver security case. Tifa stopped tying a knot in the bag momentarily when she saw the box, but she then finished the knot and placed the bag close to Cloud. Cloud lightly nodded with a small smile and opened the box, revealing dozens of brightly glowing materia orbs. Cloud didn't like using them too often since they took their power from the Planet, but this was one of the rare occasions when he thought he might need it.

All of the materia was from their original fight against Sephiroth four years ago. During that conflict, many of the orbs matured into their most potent state and were far more powerful than your average materia. As Cloud rummaged through and selected several of the essentials, like Fire, Ice, and Lightning, he smirked as he remembered how hard it was trying to keep Yuffie from stealing it all after Meteor had been destroyed.

After he found the orbs he was looking for, he closed the box and slid it back under the bed. Tifa looked at him and lightly smiled.

"You be careful, okay?" she said gently. Cloud nodded, and since they were in the privacy of their room, he took her in his arms and embraced her with all of his heart.

When they came back downstairs, Tifa followed Cloud until she reached the middle of the bar and watched as he headed towards the door. Cloud reached for the handle of the door, but stopped and looked at Shelke.

"Shelke, I'm sorry I had to ask you about Deep Ground. I shouldn't have done that." Shelke seemed to be a bit confused, and gave him a strange look.

"There is nothing to apologize for. While I do not look favorably back on my experiences in Deep Ground, they help make up who I am and I cannot forget that. I was slightly taken back when you asked me about the facility, but it was not with fear that I responded, merely shock." Shelke then gave Cloud a smile and returned to her computer. Cloud lightly smiled back, and after giving Nanaki and Tifa a farewell nod, he opened the door and left.

As the sound of Fenrir came to life and faded away, Nanaki sat back down on the floor and closed his eye to rest. "Cloud certainly has improved his demeanor after he forgave himself," Nanaki said from the floor. "And it would seem that your time spent here has helped you too, Shelke." Shelke briefly looked up from her computer to survey the room, and Tifa smiled at her before she returned to the area behind the bar. Shelke smiled to herself and nodded in agreement with Nanaki. For one that was supposedly only an adolescent, she thought he was quite wise.

* * *

Cloud brought Fenrir to a stop and pulled his sunglasses down off of his face. From the hilltop where he now stood, he could see the massive ruins of Midgar in all of its tremendous, and yet dreadful, splendor.

He hadn't been there since the assault on Deep Ground nearly a year before, but the ruined city hadn't changed much at all. The hulking mass of the former city seemed to be slumping over upon itself as if it were wallowing in its own despair. Much of the cold, lifeless steel structure was tarnished with soot and twisted by the incredible force that occurred between Holy and Meteor as they fought four years ago. Cloud remembered the talk that said Midgar was a barren city where no plant could grow, but he could visibly see the wild lush green foliage that seemed to be pouring out of what was once Sector 5. Cloud thought to himself that it wouldn't be long, maybe a dozen years or so, before the old city would be covered in the wild green vines with yellow flowers.

Cloud came out of his mental wanderings when the sound of a distant roll of thunder came to his ears. To the west towards Junon, Cloud could see a dark blanket of black clouds moving his way. From within them, the bright flicker of lightning coursed through, soon followed by the booming report. Knowing that it wouldn't be long before the storm reached him, Cloud quickly cranked the throttle and raced down towards the once great city.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Here's Chapter 9. Hopefully the formatting for this chapter came threw, for some reason doesn't like centered text or italics when you import the file over from Word...

* * *

Chapter 9

Cloud drove through the many piles of debris and old run down houses that had once been called the slum districts of Midgar. Years before, this area would be filled with people who were too poor to live on the upper plates, but now it was merely empty and lifeless. As he drove, he couldn't help but feel that the open black holes coming from the dilapidated buildings were looking at him with hunger. Above, what remained of the upper plates shut out all light and sight of the sky, though large gaps were present that let Cloud know that the storm was getting close.

There weren't many ways to get onto the upper plates and those that were closest to the edges of the once great city were dismantled and shut off so no one could wander in and get hurt. Before, Cloud had made his way to the upper plate by following Kadaj up several broken power conduits and a column from the old church, but those were long since removed for the same safety concerns. The only path up to the upper plates and the Shinra Building that was his destination was the old train system that wound its way up the central column.

Cloud had forgotten how large the city was, but after driving for several minutes that seemed to stretch on forever, he finally reached the central pillar. The large column was still intact and appeared solid, but since it was over a mile wide Cloud figured that the havoc wrought by the Meteor didn't have much of an impact on it. However, the old latticework of train tracks that coiled up the column looked far worse.

Many of the supports were warped, and from the vantage point at the bottom, he could see that several of the rails were warped and hanging loosely, some even swaying back and forth. But as bad as it looked, this was the only way Cloud knew of how to get onto the upper plates, and since time was off the essence, he threw caution into the wind and began to drive up.

The trip up the railway was bumpier than Cloud liked, but after an excruciating two minutes, he reached what had been the tunnel that passed through the plate and emerged on the upper side. At this point, the level of damage that Midgar had sustained became painfully apparent.

Cloud tried to navigate through enormous pieces of loose steel that had fallen and crushed portions of the tunnel, but he soon reached a narrow path that Fenrir wouldn't fit into. He didn't like having to leave Fenrir so soon, but it couldn't be helped. After he killed the motor and rested the motorcycle on the kickstand, Cloud opened the sword compartments and removed the main blade, which now had two others attached, and then chose the remaining long blade with the serrated back. For a moment, he thought about taking the only two blades that were left, the shorter swords that had ratcheting grips, but he felt confident that four swords were enough. He then closed the compartments and continued up the path.

Several spots were difficult to navigate, but before long, Cloud emerged into the open and looked up at what remained of the Shinra Building.

The building itself was completely destroyed; all of the windows were shattered and the metal sides were all covered in a thick layer of soot from the fires that raged after Meteor was defeated. Cloud remembered seeing the massive fires that raged across the plates. Though they were devastating, it was almost beautiful, in a hypnotically dangerous sort of way. Nanaki had made the comment as they surveyed the damage from the _Highwind_ that the flames were purifying the city. If the flames did purify the city, they missed the dark secret that lay underneath.

Thunder echoed and reverberated against the metal and concrete skeletons of the city. Before the sounds died away, the rain began to fall, pelting Cloud as he began to walk towards the once grand entrance hall.

The rain became heavier and heavier, and by the time Cloud entered into the old building, the rain was falling with a heavy roar. Cloud briefly shook the water off of his spiky hair and then looked around the massive room. Though he knew that the building would be in horrible shape, he had no idea just how bad it would look. Now that he was standing here, he was shocked at just how destroyed it looked.

All around the once dirt free floor were large and heavy chunks of concrete, all which had fallen from the floors above. The staircase to the left that went up to a landing was completely blocked by rubble, and the one on the right was covered in smaller debris. Shelke had said that the entrance was in the basement, but Cloud couldn't see where the basement entrance was with all of the rubble around.

With the intent of getting a better look, he went up the flight of stairs and looked down at the first floor. None of the old lights in the building worked, so he reached into his pocket and removed a small flashlight. When he turned it on, the bright blue lights hit the lobby floor below and he quickly scanned the room. Now that he had some light, it wasn't hard to find what he was looking for. Behind what had once been the reception desk was an area that looked as if the floor panels were removed. Cloud climbed down the stairs and went to look at this new hole.

The hole was most definitely designed when the building was constructed, and there was a small metal rung ladder that led down. Several strips of caution tape were strung over the area, all of it having the distinct red logo of the WRO on it. Cloud moved these out of the way and jumped down. His boots made a loud clang when they hit and the sound seemed to echo throughout the lifeless lobby.

Cloud then began to walk down this new path, and soon he regretted not bringing the short swords since the hallways were rather a tight fit for him if he had to use his larger sword. At first, Cloud seemed confused. All of this appeared to just be a basement and not an entryway into a large secret installation, but he continued on. As he walked, his heart began to beat slightly faster. It wasn't that he was afraid that he would encounter something that he couldn't handle, but it was the inner child within him that became nervous that something would jump out of the shadows at him.

The hallways were eerily silent, only filled with the sounds of his boots and his own breathing. The three-foot circle of light produced by his flashlight shown on the grime-covered walls, and as he walked he soon saw dirt-covered glass that looked into small service rooms. Judging by the look of the machines, Cloud figured they were either heating and cooling systems, or old plumbing pumps. The doors that led into these rooms were electronic, and since the building hadn't had power in a while, they didn't move. Several times Cloud encountered a sealed doorway, but after prying at them with his sword, he was able to get the doors to move along their tracks and force them open. The last door that Cloud had to force his way into opened up into a large storage room, though there was nothing in there now.

Cloud looked at the ceiling and saw that it was covered in what looked like a metal grating, and before he could figure out what this was for, his light picked up on the hulking wreckage of two large security robots. At first Cloud reached for his sword, but he soon realized that they had been destroyed long ago. As he passed, he noticed that they were shot and had distinctive three round holes that formed a triangle. Cloud lightly smirked as he recognized the craftsmanship of Vincent.

On the far side of the storage room there was another door, but what was on the wall next to it finally gave him a glimmer of hope that he was on the right track. It was a security card reader that had a sign bolted above it.

_Authorized Users Only_

_All unauthorized personnel found in this area will be terminated._

_Beware_

Cloud tried to put his fingers into the crack in the door to see if it would open, but it was firmly in place. He didn't have a security card or anything like that to open the door, and even if he did, there wasn't any power in the building. While he tried to think of something to do, he mindlessly hit one of the keys next to the card reader. Suddenly he pulled his hand back as the key grid slowly illuminated with a blue flickering light that stayed constant after a few seconds. Oddly enough, the old building must have had some sort of backup generator or power source that was still active.

The keypad had alphabetical keys and numbers on it, but Cloud had no idea what the password was to get in. Remembering that Shinra had once used the word MAKO as a password, he typed it in and hit enter, but the keypad only flashed red twice before it went back to blue. Cloud scratched his head as he tried to think of what it might be, and when he looked to the floor where his flashlight beam was at, he saw a piece of paper. When he picked this up, he instantly felt rather stupid.

_WRO Personnel:_

_The password is Deepground_

Cloud entered the name of the hidden facility and was rewarded with a green flash. Behind the door, Cloud could hear an elevator being brought up to him. Though the sound itself wasn't really loud, it cut through the silence and seemed to be the loudest thing Cloud had ever heard.

The doors opened, and Cloud had to shield his eyes from the bright fluorescent lights that were inside. The interior of the elevator was a stark difference from the rest of the basement facility. The walls were lined with carved wood, and the floor was a highly polished marble. Cloud was sure that when Shinra was up and running, this elevator was kept spotless, but now he could see several dirty boot prints that were left by the WRO salvage teams that had entered after Deep Ground was defeated.

After he entered the elevator and hit the only button he could, the doors closed and the elevator began to descend rapidly. As he waited for it to reach its destination, Cloud regretted not looking at the maps that they had recovered concerning the entirety of the underground facilities. But at the time that they found them, only Vincent was in need of them and Cloud was too busy trying to fight off all the Deep Ground soldiers.

When the elevator doors opened, Cloud stepped out and was surprised to see a room that was undamaged. In a way it was rather creepy, since they were exactly like the ones in the upper stories of the Shinra building. All of the lights were on and the facility only looked as if the workers were on a lunch break. It was if Cloud had stepped into another world when compared to the dark and destroyed basement he had just left.

Along the walls were several posters of the old Shinra Company logo, and a punch card clock for the employees that must have worked in this area. Cloud had no idea that so many people actually knew about the facility, but he also assumed that any employees that worked down here must have seeked refuge from the Meteor within the safety of this underground facility. What happened to them after that was anyone's guess.

Cloud saw a hydraulic doorway that exited this room, and after confirming that there was nothing of any value to him in the room he was already in, he walked out and into the next area. When the door opened, Cloud paused and saw that it led to a large open area with a bridge connecting Cloud's door with another. For a moment, Cloud just stood there, taking in everything that he was seeing. Above him he could see what must have been the foundations for the Shinra building, and there were several large pillars that went from the distant floor below all the way up to the foundation.

Cloud figured that all of this was in the central support column of Midgar, but whether he was now below the ground level or somewhere inside the column above the slum districts, he couldn't tell. To him, it was a rather impossible miracle that somehow kept all of this a secret.

After getting used to the large expanse below him, he crossed the bridge and entered into the far doorway. Once he entered this doorway, he found himself in a room that had multiple display cases. Inside these display cases were samples of materia in their natural state. As he looked at them, he had a strange jumbled memory come back to him. For a moment, he almost remembered that it happened a certain way, but that soon disappeared and he remembered it the way it really happened.

_He was standing in a cave in Mount Nibel, nervously shaking after falling off of a bridge that had collapsed. The other Shinra MP was lost, but he luckily was pulled off of a cliff by his friend Zack. Inside the cave, Tifa, who was much younger than she was today and was wearing a cowboy hat, was looking wide-eyed at a large formation of crystal that was glowing with a pulsating beat. Zack was there too, trying to figure out what it was. A third person was also there, and when he turned around, he briefly looked at the fountain and then looked at Zack. Even though it was a memory, Cloud had the strangest feeling that the third person briefly looked directly at him. It was Sephiroth._

"_A Mako fountain. It's a miracle of nature," the silver haired man that Cloud would soon learn to hate said._

"_It's so beautiful," Tifa said in a dreamy far off voice. "If the Mako Reactor continues to suck up the energy, this fountain will dry up too," she added with an obvious hint of regret. Sephiroth stepped closer to the fountain and lightly reached up his hand to it, but he didn't touch it._

"_Materia. When you condense Mako energy, materia is produced. It's very rare to be able to see materia in its natural state…_"

Cloud came out of his memory-driven trance and continued through the room and turned a corner. On this side of the room, more display cases were standing, but these held manufactured materia orbs. Briefly out of curiosity, he read some of the small plaques that held information about each one.

Some of them were mastered versions of the more common materia, but others were more rare ones. One of these was a summon materia, and the plaque said that it was a Masters of the Round. Cloud remembered that they had acquired one during their fight against Sephiroth, but it conveniently disappeared soon after. Cloud knew where it went of course, but he had no need for it anymore.

He was about to continue down a corridor when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. There was a small door nearly hidden in the wall. On this door were small letters that said Level 5. Cloud smirked as he went up to the door and tried to figure out a way to open it. There wasn't a keypad like the other, only a small hole that looked like it went to a special key. Along one of the edges of the door, it looked as if someone had pried it open before. Cloud then pushed the tip of his sword into the doorjamb and pried it back. With a loud screech, the door slowly slid open enough for Cloud to grab it and force it open the rest of the way.

Once the door was completely open, it revealed a long dark passageway that ended with another door. Cloud walked through the corridor and when he reached this door, he was surprised to find that it opened without him having to force it to. Beyond it was another bridge over the abyss and once Cloud crossed this, he found the final door. This door was much different than the rest.

It had looked like this door was opened in the manner of the others, but now it looked as if it was welded shut. Recently stuck onto it was a warning sign.

_Warning! Do Not Enter!_

_This door sealed shut under the authority of Commissioner Tuesti_

_World Regenesis Organization_

Cloud knew that he had found the storage room the Reeve had mentioned; now he just had to figure out how to get in. At first, Cloud tried to find a weakness in the welds, somewhere that he might be able to jam his sword into and pry the door open like the others. But he soon found that the WRO Corps of Engineers had done their job thoroughly, so there was only one option left to him.

Cloud stepped back and raised the Tsurugi high above his head. Soon, the blade became engulfed in iridescent flames of energy, and Cloud powerfully brought it down with a tremendous crash that burst the door off of its hinges and sent it flailing into the room. Cloud then stood relaxed and entered the storage room.

Inside, there was a thin layer of smoke from his method of entry, but the multiple array of objects that were stored on the walls were undisturbed. Cloud walked slowly as he read the small name cards under each object. At first, it reminded him of some strange exhibit of a wandering circus. There were Guard Hound fangs, Marlboro tentacles, Tonberry eyes, Zombie Dragon claws, Behemoth horns, and many other strange items that Cloud wondered if they even had uses. But on one of the display shelves at the back, he found a sealed glass medical vial about six inches tall that contained a strange lifeless cloud of black. The nametag below this said, "Jenova Cells- First Harvestation." Cloud grimaced to himself as he picked up the vial and looked in at the black substance. Hojo must have kept the first cells that were collected, and added them to this strange menagerie of the macabre. To himself, Cloud thought that the cells looked dead, but then again he didn't really know what living cells should look like. Now that he was finished, he turned around and was glad to put the strange storage room behind him. But when he stepped back out of the doorway, he stopped dead in his tracks and saw a massive behemoth man standing on the opposite side. Cloud quickly drew his sword from the harness and entered a battle stance.

The large white haired foe that was the very same that had broken into the Mideel Data Facility smirked, and readied himself with his long dual bladed sword. From behind him, Cloud heard an annoyed sounding voice that had a lazy drawl to it.

"Abrams, why do you always stop in the middle of the way?" By now, Cloud could see who was speaking. A much shorter man with red hair now stood beside the giant who was obviously named Abrams. When this red headed man saw Cloud, he briefly looked him up and down and then focused on Cloud's eyes.

"Ah, what have we here? A SOLDIER? Now isn't that interesting?" Cloud sneered and raised his head slightly to speak. At this, the red head made an amused sound and pulled out two identical sais from behind his back.

"Who are you?" Cloud growled at the two. The red headed man sneered and opened his eyes wide as he responded. Cloud was surprised to see that both of his eyes seemed to emit a faint red light. Abrams was still standing in his fighting stance, but his eyes began to burn a brighter pale blue.

"Ah, but now that is a deep question, isn't it? I'm surprised to find a member of SOLDIER that is capable of thinking in such a way," the red head said before he broke out into a menacing chuckle. His larger companion finally moved, but only to shift into a different position.

"Enough of this, Owzer! This worm has the vial!" Abrams bellowed with a deep reverberating voice. Owzer's red eyes burned with an intense fire at this, and his joking manner soon disappeared.

"I'm afraid we'll be having to take those from you boy!" And with this, both men lunged at Cloud.

Cloud was surprised at the level of speed they both had. Before he had time to properly react, they were both on him, quickly swinging their weapons for a killing blow. Cloud had barely enough time to bring the Tsurugi up to parry the massive blows from Abrams, while he had to jump back to avoid the stabbing motions made by Owzer.

Abrams had driven Cloud back into the storage room, and Owzer had oddly jumped back onto the bridge, pulling away from the fight. For whatever reason he did this, Cloud could now focus primarily on the gigantic Abrams.

With loud clangs from their metal blades, the Tsurugi deflected the blows from the double bladed sword. The two edged weapon was slow to wield, but this was hardly noticeable in Abrams's hands; but Cloud could still see it and he used it to his advantage.

Quickly Cloud swung the Tsurugi back and forth with his right hand, all the while holding onto the vial with his left. Abrams was becoming painfully aware of the handicap his weapon was giving him, but when Cloud was ready to strike a heavy blow to gain the upper hand, Abrams kicked Cloud hard in the stomach, sending him flying back into the wall.

When he hit, his grip on the vial loosened, and Abrams quickly tipped the vial onto the edge of his blade and flung it over his back where Owzer caught it.

Cloud stood back up, and now that his left hand was free, he quickly pulled out the other sword that he had with him and now brandished two blades. Abrams let a dry sneer cross his face, and with a swift fluid motion, he twisted the handle on his double bladed sword and separated the two blades; he too now brandished two blades.

Without wasting another moment, Cloud sprang forward and attacked Abrams. In a blindingly fast manner the two exchanged blows, one after the other, creating sparks that flew in every which direction.

Cloud soon found a gap in Abrams's defenses and he swung down hard with both of his blades, knocking the big man over. Without giving him another thought, Cloud sprung forward and attacked Owzer, who had now placed the vial of cells into his traveling bag. With both of his hands free to fight, Owzer quickly swung his sais around and began to block Cloud's attacks.

Over and over, Cloud swung hard at Owzer from all directions as they battled on the bridge, but every time Owzer blocked the blow. Cloud then swung down hard with the long thin blade in his left hand, but Owzer caught it between his two sais. In a simple twist, Owzer had snapped the blade out of Cloud's grasp and the blade went flying and lodged itself into one of the other support pillars.

Cloud then jumped back and put both hands now on the Tsurugi. As he jumped towards Owzer, he was suddenly broadsided by Abrams's massive right fist, and Cloud went flying over the edge of the bridge. In the air, Cloud was able to collect himself and he turned back around to get ready to jump off of a pillar and get back into the fight. But as he was about to do so, both Abrams and Owzer held out their fists and shot a powerful blast of materia induced lightning his way.

Cloud was barely able to avoid the majority of the blast by jumping out of the way when he hit the pillar, but the amount that hit him sent him falling down into the chasm below. As Cloud fell, he saw his other sword sticking out of the pillar and he was able to arrest his fall by grabbing onto it. When he looked back up at the two, they were getting ready to attack again, but several ricocheting bullets bounced off of the railing in front of them and they retreated back towards the entrance.

For a moment, Cloud merely hung there catching his breath, but in a swift motion, he kicked off of the wall, pulling his sword with him, and barely was able to reach to edge of the bridge. He was about to pull himself up when the familiar pointed gold boot of Vincent Valentine appeared in front of him. Cloud looked up and Vincent offered him a hand up.

Once Cloud was safely back on the bridge, Vincent motioned towards the exit with his head and looked to Cloud.

What did they want here?" Cloud let out a frustrated sigh and placed both of his swords back into his harness.

"They were after a vial of Jenova Cells that was stored here." Cloud then realized that the last place he had seen Vincent was in Junon, where he said he was going to stay. "I thought you were in Junon?"

"Hmm," Vincent said as he nodded. Before he continued, they both began to make their way out. "I followed those two from there. I think they might be the leaders of the Returners. What were you doing here?" Cloud shrugged and explained everything.

"Interesting. We'd better head for Junon. With a bit of luck we might catch them, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"You think they might do something in Junon?" Cloud asked as they boarded the elevator.

"From what you tell me, Reeve's planning on fighting the Returners. But if your suspicions are correct, they could be walking into a slaughter."

When both of them were back outside where the thunderstorm was raging harder than ever, Cloud opened his cell phone and called Reeve. After a few rings, he answered.

"_Cloud? Were you able to get it?_"

"Yes and no. Listen, I don't know what they're planning on doing, but I don't think you should attack the Returners in Junon." There was a long pause on the other end before Reeve answered.

"_I'm sorry Cloud, but the attack has already begun_."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"MEDIC!" cried one of the WRO troops as the loud clamor of battle filled the streets of Junon. Colonel Hargrove stood tall and surveyed the battlefield with his head held high, even when an exploding shell went off ten meters away. The streets of Junon were turned into a battlefield; large craters from grenades and artillery dotted the streets, multiple flaming holes riddled the buildings, and debris constantly rained down from above. The battle had been fought for nearly six hours now, and the sun was beginning to set in the west.

Normally in a battle, Hargrove would have called for an aerial bombing strike to simply wipe out the enemy, but this battle within a major WRO claimed city put the limit on what he could do. He was forced to have to fight the Returners on the streets, something that they hadn't planned on, but the Returners had hoped for.

Around every street corner, the Returners had laid improvised mines, simple but effective. Everywhere there were injured fighters from both sides. Hargrove roughly estimated that there were more of them that were dead, but there were still too many of them left to even think a victory was in sight. When the fighting had started, caused by the Returners firing the first shot, he thought that he could win this fight in less than an hour, but he had misjudged these Returners.

At first, they had advanced and pushed the Returners back, making him think that they had them on the run. But that was only so they could draw the WRO army into a trap. From there, it was a long and bloody fight just to make it back to what they were calling the Green Zone, or the heavily fortified WRO Headquarters. Scouting reports had come in and were saying that the Returners were using an old section of the city for their base. The only thing Hargrove remembered about the area was that Rufus Shinra had given a speech there after his father had died. But none of that mattered now.

The Returners were now advancing with a renewed vigor, and unless reinforcements showed up soon, they would have to fall back into the WRO building itself, and then hold out until they could be evacuated. However, this order was far in the back of his mind and he was looking for a way to at least drive the enemy back. If he could do this, he would then be able to set up turreted machine guns in the massive city square and defend the building from any further waves of attack.

"Sir, they're coming!" a young troop said, and Hargrove looked through his binoculars at the advancing enemy force. Many of the Returner Regulars were armed with machine guns, but a few had melee weapons. This was going to be another sanguinary affair trying to drive them back, but it had to be done.

"Ready men!" he yelled out at the troops. Many of them were young faces that looked back at him; some of them were too young he thought. "Advance!" Slowly, the line of WRO troopers stood and began to march forward. All of them were waiting for the enemy to get into range, not wanting to waste any of their ammunition on a target they may not hit. But while the WRO troops were waiting, the Returner Regulars opened fire, pelting them with random fire that cut through their ranks with a deadly randomness.

Soon the WRO troops started to fire back, and before long, they were turning back around and running for the cover of the fortified barricades.

Hargrove frowned at this turn of events and was about to give the order to retreat when he heard a loud-pitched engine racing towards him. Suddenly, a long black shape raced into the courtyard and a blonde haired young man jumped off, brandishing a large sword at the Returners.

Without pausing a moment, Cloud began his attack. The bullets that were fired at him ricocheted and flew off of the now fully assembled First Tsurugi in a dizzying blur. Soon they had run out of ammunition, and before they had a chance to reload, Cloud swung the mighty blade and cut them down. Soon all of the Returner Regulars began to focus on Cloud and swarmed him, but he kept swinging with his deadly precision and speed, thinning the numbers of the Returners as he went.

Colonel Hargrove watched on and was in shock at just how proficient the young man was. But then he saw an attack coming from behind him that might catch him off guard. But before Hargrove could yell a warning, a flash of red spun around in the courtyard and suddenly there was a black haired figure fighting along side of the blonde.

Vincent quickly fired Cerberus with a deadly precision, cutting down advancing Returner Regulars by the dozens. When he reloaded, it only took a fraction of a second before he began to fire again. Soon, all around both Cloud and Vincent, there was only a mass of the Returners that were taken out of commission. Briefly pausing from his swings, Cloud motioned towards some injured WRO troops and spoke to his friend.

"Vincent, help get those injured troops back behind their barricade. I'll deal with these guys." Vincent briefly nodded, and quickly ran over to the injured troops, all the while firing Cerberus with a deadly aim. Even though bullets were flying past his head, Vincent calmly picked up the troops with his metal-clawed left hand and brought them to safety. Before these soldiers could thank him, he was back in the fight.

Cloud saw a grenade coming his way, and quickly batted it back at the Returners with his sword and watched as it exploded, taking out several of the still advancing Returners. By now, Cloud could hear an officer of the WRO giving the order to advance from behind him. Cloud briefly parried the attack from a Returner who had a sword, and then quickly cleaved him in two. For whatever reason, since they still outnumbered the WRO, the Returners started to fall back.

As the WRO troops began to run up to where Cloud and Vincent were, Vincent quickly held up his left hand to hold them back.

"Hold here. Something's not right." Cloud took a moment to catch his breath and noticed that the Returners had fallen back to a side street, but they turned back around once they got there and only stood their ground. Cloud was about to question Vincent about why they were doing this, but he soon saw why; their own reinforcements had just arrived.

Both Abrams and Owzer now entered from the side street and glared at Cloud and Vincent before they charged. Cloud firmed his grip on Tsurugi and charged toward Abrams while Vincent lunged towards Owzer. From both sides of the conflict, the regular soldiers only watched on as the four entered combat.

Cloud brought the Tsurugi down on Abrams's double bladed sword with a loud crash that echoed throughout the area. Abrams blocked the blow and then returned the attack with all of his strength. Cloud went flying back into the air, but quickly rebounded and was back, exchanging blows with the giant in a rapid blinding show of sparks as the two blades met.

Vincent fired Cerberus several times at Owzer, but he merely deflected the bullets with his sais before they could hit him. Owzer closed the distance between him and Vincent and he then swung one of the sharpened points at Vincent's right hand. Vincent was able to dodge the blow, but he hadn't expected Owzer to kick upwards with his right leg, hitting the barrel of Cerberus and sending it flying out of his hand.

Vincent sneered at the now smug looking Owzer. Owzer then tried to jab Vincent with the sharpened point, but Vincent quickly grabbed the sai with his left hand and snapped it in two. While Owzer was in shock at this, Vincent swung hard with his right fist and caught Owzer in the chin, sending him flying back. As Owzer collected himself, Vincent was on him with a furious assault of swift kicks and punches. Both Owzer and Vincent now engaged in a swift display of their martial arts prowess.

Abrams caught Cloud with a mighty swing and sent Cloud flying high into the air, but Cloud quickly charged his blade and brought it down hard on Abrams's weapon, pouring burning hot flames of energy onto Abrams. Cloud was about to prepare for the killing blow, but a flaming ball of fire hit him and sent him reeling back. When he stood back up, he now saw a third figure joining in on the battle.

This third man was as tall as Cloud. He too wore the same SOLDIER uniform that the other two wore, but his hair was much longer and was solid black. His eyes glowed a deep green, and they now glared at Cloud with a ferocity that showed that he was in charge. Before Cloud could decide what to do, this new enemy charged and began to attack with a straight long sword.

Cloud brought up his own blade in enough time to block the attacks, but he was surprised by how much power this new attacker had. Cloud growled to himself as he pushed this new attacker's blade away and began to swing the Tsurugi at him with repeating blows. The black haired man quickly blocked each blow with little effort and then he jumped back and raised his sword into the air. Cloud instantly knew that he was charging his spirit energy for a powerful attack, but the only thing he could do was try and block the brunt of the it.

When the enemy's sword hit his own, Cloud felt a quick jolt of pain course through his body, and before he knew it, he was flying back and landed roughly twenty meters away. Cloud stood back up, but he was breathing heavy and he knew that his fatigue showed. The black haired man smirked widely and leveled his blade and pointed it at Cloud. He then looked at the group of WRO soldiers and yelled aloud.

"Is this the best that you have? Do you think that one old SOLDIER has the ability to defeat me, Arvin, leader of the Returners? In less than a minute, I have reduced him to nothing more than a weakling trying to catch his breath. Hear this! I will give you until daybreak tomorrow to surrender your weapons, and leave this city. If you do not, I will burn it to the ground, move on to the next city, and do the same until you surrender!" He finished, and let his words hang in the air for a moment before he lightly flicked his sword back. He then turned around and simply walked off of the battlefield.

Abrams gave Cloud a hateful glare and followed his leader. Owzer gave Vincent a smirk and back flipped away to join his comrades. Once they had left, the Returner Regulars took up their defensive positions where they stood, but showed no signs of wanting to attack.

For a complete minute, Cloud stared at the spot that the three had disappeared at, squeezing the grip of the First Tsurugi so hard that it made his arm twitch in anger. Vincent retrieved Cerberus and went up to Cloud; he also stared at the area that the three had disappeared.

Behind them, the WRO soldiers began to lightly talk, and soon an officer began to give orders to man the defensive stations. Cloud finally shook his head slowly and let out a frustrated sigh.

"What the hell are they?" he said, still filled with anger. Vincent lightly shook his head and looked at the fresh dents that had been placed in his massive gauntlet.

"I don't know. They wear the uniform of a SOLDIER."

"But they don't fight like one. Their eyes actually glow. Vincent, didn't the Tsviets' eyes glow?" Vincent looked up from his gauntlet and then looked up at the light purple sky.

"Only when they were fighting. Whatever these three are, their eyes glow at all times." Another moment of silence passed between the two before Cloud turned and started to walk towards the WRO barricades.

"We need answers, and soon."

"Hmm. But who from? I doubt Reeve knows anything about them," Vincent said as he walked beside Cloud.

"Reeve may not know, but Rufus might." Vincent cocked an eyebrow at the mentioning of the former president of the Shinra Company, but said nothing.

When they reached the secured area behind the barricades, Cloud saw the number of young faces looking at him with both wonder and disappointment. He tried not to pay attention, but he knew that they all expected him to defeat anyone who tried to fight him. After all, it was almost common knowledge that he had fought and defeated Sephiroth more times than he cared to remember. One of the troops, a young woman with a bloodied bandage wrapped around her hand, looked at Cloud and spoke.

"You can beat them, right? You were just tired from fighting, yeah that's all. Right?" Cloud sighed and was trying to think of a response, but someone else answered before he could.

"Of course he can, he was only judging their strength. But now that he knows, he'll be able to take them down. Especially with the Greatest Ninja ever to come out of Wutai at his side. Right Cloud?" Cloud turned and saw the wide smile of Yuffie Kisaragi beaming at him, and she winked at Vincent who was just as surprised to see her as Cloud was, though he didn't really show it.

"Yuffie, when did you get here?" Cloud asked. Yuffie shrugged and stretched her arms high into the air.

"I just got here, but it looks like I've missed all the action. So what's the plan guys? We gonna charge into their spooky lair and kick their butts or what?" Cloud lightly shook his head and looked back at the city square where he had just fought the strange trio. There was no denying it, they were strong, perhaps too strong for him to take on by himself. He had the confidence in his abilities that he could handle them one on one, but when they all attacked at once like that, he was at a numerical disadvantage. If he was going to defeat them, he was going to need help.

"Yuffie, how did you get here?"

"The _Shera_, how else?" Yuffie said with a puzzled look at Cloud. She could tell that he was thinking of something, and somehow it reminded her of a Chocobo trying to lay an egg.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Since the upcoming semester of Grad School is about to start, I'm not going to be able to devote as much time to writing as I would like. But don't worry, _Return of Darkness_ will be completed, it's just that the intervals of updates is going to be a bit more stretched out; possibly to one update a week. Hopefully everyone who's reading this story will stay with it and put up with my slow progress, I promise you that it'll be worth it.

* * *

Chapter 11

The _Shera_ was the fastest airship in all of the fleet, and Cid didn't hold anything back as they traveled from Junon to the WRO Headquarters outside of Edge. After making a few phone calls, everyone from the old group was now making their way into the debriefing room.

When Cloud, Vincent, Cid, and Yuffie entered the large room with the map of the planet, they found Barret, Tifa, and Nanaki waiting by the table while Reeve was pacing back and forth alongside the far wall talking on his cell phone. Everyone took a seat at the round conference table, save for Cloud who stood where everyone could see him, and Reeve, who was still pacing back and forth while on his phone. Reeve gave Cloud the sign to start without him, and Cloud tried to figure out what would be the fastest way to explain everything to the group.

"All right, listen up. This is going to be really confusing, so try to stay with me. I'll try to explain things as I go, but if you can't understand something, just let me know and I'll-"

"Would ya just get on with it, kid?!?" Cid yelled as he flicked his cigarette at the ground. Cloud sighed and started.

"Okay. Right now, the Returners are holding Junon under siege, and they've given us until daybreak to surrender the city to them."

"So why the hell we sittin' here? Let's go and kick their asses, Avalanche-Style!" Barret said as he clinched his mechanical right fist and beat it on the table.

"There's more to it than just that," Vincent said as he folded his arms across his chest.

"What do ya mean? You give me five minutes with 'em and I'll set 'em straight," Barret interrupted with, this time transforming his artificial appendage into a four-barreled turret machine gun. Tifa sighed and gave Barret a tired look.

"Barret, if you'd stop interrupting, Cloud'll explain why we're here, so keep quiet! Go on, Cloud." Cloud briefly smirked as he saw Barret's hurt face and then he went into a full explanation of everything he had done and learned for the past few days. When he was done, an air of silence passed over the table as they all let it sink in. Cid was the first to speak.

"So let me get this straight. Three freaks with glowin' eyes stole the recipe for a SOLDIER, found some Jenova left-overs sittin' in Hojo's fridge, and are now holdin' Junon hostage?" Cloud cocked an eyebrow and blinked a few times as he tried to fathom Cid's own version of the events, and then lightly shrugged.

"Well, pretty much." Tifa shook her head and asked a question that had been bugging her from the beginning of Cloud's explanation.

"But this Arvin and his two thugs, what exactly are they? Are they members of Deep Ground, or are they old members of SOLDIER who've decided to try and take over?" Cloud sighed and took a seat at a chair next to Tifa.

"I don't know. I don't think that they're members of Deep Ground or SOLDIER. I think that they're something else. With the other files I found in the facility, there was one that was deleted named Project X. Reeve didn't know anything about it, but maybe Rufus does. That's who Reeve's talking to now." Barret's face turned into a disgusted scowl and he crossed his arms in disgust.

"I don't give a damn what he's done recently, I still don't like the bastard."

"Regardless of you feelings towards the man, Barret," Reeve said as he closed his phone and joined them at the table, "he's a valuable source for information on anything to do with the old Shinra regime. However, just like with Deep Ground, he has no knowledge of a Project X. If there are any other files on the subject, he has no idea where they might be at, though there are a few possibilities." This turn of events brought a cloak of disappointment across the table. For a moment, only silence passed between the members of the group.

Nanaki lightly cleared his throat and sat forward, though it made the wheeled chair he sat in slightly roll backwards. Though the chair was not designed for a body frame like his, he handled himself rather well.

"Obviously there is something else going on beneath the surface. From what you say, these three have nearly everything they need to create their own SOLDIER army, and at the same time, their Returner forces have Junon all but in their grasp. So why do they not seize the city immediately?" Nanaki's final sentence wasn't posed as a question for his own benefit, but for those at the table's. Tifa rested her head on her fist as she tried to think of a reason, but Barret simply shrugged his muscular shoulders and hit the table with his metallic appendage.

"Hell I dunno, maybe they just feel like it." Yuffie let out a wet flapping sound through her lips and rolled her eyes at the base idiocy of the big man's answer. Barret threw his arms into the air and shouted angrily at Yuffie.

"Well I don't hear you makin' any suggestions!"

"That's because I can't think of a smart reason. Just because _you_ can't doesn't mean you should let us all know how simple minded you are!" Both Yuffie and Barret now stood from their chairs and were looking like they were about to fight, but Tifa and Cloud broke it up before it could escalate. When everyone was again seated, Cloud looked at Nanaki and shrugged his shoulders.

"So Nanaki, I guess you know why they didn't?" Nanaki was about to give in and tell them, but Vincent looked up from his folded arms and said one word.

"Time."

"Exactly," Nanaki said as he grinned at his red-cloaked friend.

"What?" Cid said as he paused from lighting another cigarette.

"Hell, I'm more confused than I was five minutes ago," Barret said as he scratched his head. Yuffie made a sound that could have been taken for laughter, but Tifa interrupted before another fight broke out.

"What do you mean by time, Vincent?" Vincent's crimson eyes scanned the faces that were now looking at him and let out a sigh.

"As Nanaki said, Arvin and his gang have the information and the rarest component to begin their own SOLDIER program. What they lack is the other component that isn't as hard to come by: Mako. Most of the reactors around the world have been shut down, but not dismantled. And I'm sure you all remember, the most technically advanced reactor outside of Midgar was in Junon."

"The Underwater Reactor," Cloud said calmly as he remembered. He hadn't thought about that facility in four years and for good reason; he didn't especially like being under two hundred feet of oppressive overpowering ocean that was fighting for a way to crush him.

"In essence," Nanaki explained, "they are buying time to achieve two goals: one, the sooner that they can get their reactor fully operational, the sooner they can begin to produce their army. While they could have forced the issue and taken Junon in full, they can dedicate more man-hours to the reactor project by not fighting. And second, by giving the WRO an ultimatum, they make their regular supporters believe that their intentions are sincere so they will continue to support them until their own SOLDIER army is ready to replace them."

As they all agreed that Nanaki's explanation was the most valid one, they still hadn't come up with a plan of action. Cid let out a deep lungful of rich blue smoke and leaned back in his chair.

"All right, so this whole Returners thing is just a Red Snapper for this freak to make an army and take over the world, right?"

"I think the term you're looking for is Red Herring, Cid" Reeve said as he tried to stop from smiling. Cid lightly waved his hand in the air to show that he didn't really care.

"Whatever. So what's the plan?" After Cloud only gave him a blank stare, Cid stubbed his cigarette out and shot both of his hands into the air.

"Damn, kid! You mean we've been sittin' here, shootin' the shit for an hour now, and you ain't got a damn plan?!? Shit, I dunno how the hell you led us up against Sephiroth!" Cid yelled before he slumped back into his chair. Cloud sighed, and then looked at everyone at the table. Of course he knew what had to be done, but it was a lot to ask of his old friends.

"All right, this is what we're going to have to do. Reeve, I need you to organize a full-scaled army to go in and reinforce the forces that you have in Junon. How long will that take?" Reeve shrugged and answered.

"There just so happens to be a relief force ready, but it'll take nine hours to get them to Junon."

"Well, that's cutting it close, but get on it." Reeve nodded and started to make the necessary calls on his cell phone.

"Cid, I'm going to need every combat aircraft you can muster to assemble and hit Junon at the same time the ground forces hit. We'll also be needing to use the _Shera_ for insertion."

"All right! Now that's the kind of talk I want to hear!" Cid yelled as he pumped his fist, and with a nod, he jumped up and began to issue orders with his walkie-talkie.

"And what about us?" Tifa asked with a knowing smile. Cloud nodded to the rest of the group and stood from the table.

"We'll launch from the _Shera_, and we'll fight our way into the reactor. From there, we'll take on Arvin and his gang and end this."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Due to the dialog of a certain Pilot, I'm going to label this chapter "Reader's Discretion is Advised."

* * *

Chapter 12

The _Shera_ was now airborne, and was traveling at a decent speed towards Junon. Cid had said that he had done the calculations of speed compared to the stated arrival time himself, and though no one was going to argue with him, everyone doubted if they were made correctly. Cid had said that they would arrive in three hours, exactly at the same time that the ground forces would arrive and support the remaining forces in Junon. Until then though, they were all left to their own devices.

Tifa was trying to calm her nerves by walking through the many corridors of the airship. Everywhere she went, the ship's crew went busily about their tasks, some carrying tools and parts while others carried crates of supplies to the lower cargo hold. The entire ship resonated with the strange hum that was coming from the engines, which resounded through the corridors and seemed to penetrate every person's body. Tifa found the sensation to be rather odd, but for whatever reason, it wasn't unpleasant; it was rather soothing in a way, unlike the old _Highwind_, which seemed to be fighting its way through the air, the _Shera_ seemed to dance along gracefully.

After she turned down the same corridor for what must have been the third time, she decided to stop walking and went to look for Cloud. She found him in their assigned cabin where he had every one of the six blades that made up the First Tsurugi laid out on the bed. Cloud looked up and lightly smiled as he ran a well-oiled rag over one of them and wiped the residue off with a clean rag.

"What's up?" he asked as he reached for another blade. Tifa shrugged and sat down next to him.

"How are you, Cloud?" she asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Cloud looked up from his sword and gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Tifa said as she regretted asking him that question, "I was just wondering how you're holding up after fighting Arvin. Vincent said you didn't take it well that he said he beat you." Cloud sighed and looked away, and then he began to polish the blade more fiercely.

"He didn't beat me, he only jumped in after I was fighting Abrams and he caught me off guard, that's all." Tifa could tell that Cloud was upset about the fight but decided to not press further into it. She knew from past experiences that if she tried to force the issue, he would only go silent and withdraw from everyone for a while before he moved on. Tifa lightly shrugged her shoulders, and stretched her arms back as she yawned. When she was done, she changed the subject.

"You know, maybe you should go talk to everyone. Sort of like a pep talk, you know?" Cloud cocked an eyebrow and gave her a look with a joking smile.

"A pep talk?"

"Well, think about it, Cloud. It's been a long time since we've all been together and fought for something. I know you and Vincent keep yourselves trained and ready for a fight, but not everyone else has. Barret's been busy running his oil business, and Nanaki's been more of a tutor than anything else. Cid's probably too busy running his division of the WRO. Yuffie, well, I'm sure she's been busy doing whatever it is she does with the WRO, and I've been running the bar."

"Don't worry about yourself, Tifa, you've kept in shape." Cloud lightly gave her a smile and she returned an embarrassed one. Cloud then lightly nodded and stood from his seat on the bed.

"All right. I'll go see if everyone's ready for the fight. Maybe I'll even give them a pep talk, though I wouldn't count on it," Cloud added with a little laugh. Tifa smiled widely back at him, and Cloud then left the room to look for the others. It was at moments like this that reminded Tifa of why she loved Cloud so much.

Cloud walked down the corridor and turned a few corners when he found Yuffie, who was standing rather stiffly with her back pressed against the bulkhead and with both of her feet planted firmly in front of her. She briefly looked towards Cloud, but the sudden movement made her dizzy, so she closed her eyes and slowly turned back to focus on the opposite bulkhead. Cloud tried to suppress his smile at her expense, and he then leaned on the bulkhead next to her.

"You still get motion sickness?" Yuffie opened her mouth to answer, but she soon thought that it was a bad idea and closed her mouth. She then nodded her head slowly. Cloud shrugged as he tried to think of something encouraging to say, and he then gave her the only advice he could think of.

"Well, maybe if you tried taking a nap you might feel better." Yuffie shook her head, and looked at Cloud long enough to speak in a quick fashion.

"Tried that, only got dizzier." Cloud then sighed and thought of only one other thing.

"Have you tried looking out a window at the horizon? Looking at something that doesn't move might help out." Yuffie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she looked up with closed eyes. Yuffie then nodded and again spoke to Cloud, all the while trying to remain in her safety zone of comfort.

"You ready for this fight?" Cloud lightly nodded and then turned his gaze down the corridors.

"Sure. I mean I'm about as ready as I'll ever be. I just hope we can get in there and stop Arvin and his gang before they can do any real damage." Cloud brought his focus back on Yuffie, who was now turning an unhealthy shade of green. She made a motion showing that she was going to head towards the bridge, and Cloud nodded as he watched her go. He scratched the back of his head as he wondered where everyone else might be.

Cloud continued to walk further into the innards of the _Shera_, and found a large room that had seats along the walls and monitors for people to watch. In here, he saw Nanaki laying on the floor with his tail flicking back and forth in a lazy manner. When Cloud approached, he opened his one good eye and lightly sat up.

"Is something the matter?" he asked as he stifled a yawn. Cloud took a seat along the wall and shook his head.

"No, I'm just checking in on everyone, making sure they're all ready for the upcoming battle. You ready?" Nanaki raised his brow and shook his head quickly back and forth to wake himself up.

"I'll be fine. I guess Tifa was concerned that many of us haven't fought in some time, right? Well, there's no need to worry there. After all, the skills we learned back then never leave us; it's like what you would call 'riding a bicycle'. One never truly forgets things like that." Cloud nodded but continued on.

"True, but there won't be a time for a practice run once we hit Junon. We'll all have to be careful that we don't get taken by surprise." Nanaki nodded and was about to say something, but the doors to the room opened and a familiar robotic cat walked in, still looking as comical as ever in his small red cape and big boots.

"Ah, there ya are Cloud. I've been lookin' all over this ship for ya." Cloud looked at Cait Sith in surprise and lightly shook his head.

"Cait Sith? Reeve, I didn't know you still used that." Cait jumped up onto the seat next to Cloud and folded his arms behind his head.

"Well, I do still have my uses, and besides, I can be of some help on this fight."

"You can?" Cloud asked, wondering just what Reeve meant about the three-foot tall robotic cat.

"Aye, I can use materia, and I've got plenty of it to boot. But I was lookin' for ya to tell ya somethin'. Rufus didn'a know anythin' about Project X, but he said it did sound familiar to him. He just called me, and said that he might have read the name once in a file taken from Nibelhiem, in the old Shinra Mansion. Perhaps there's a chance that a copy of the file is in the old library in the basement. After all of this business is taken care of, I'll be sendin' a team to go look and see. Then we can know for sure just what these ruddy bastards are."

"After this is over, I could care less what they are. I mean, it would be kind of useless by that point, wouldn't it?" Cloud asked.

"Aye, I guess it would. But still, I'd like to know, both for future uses and for my own curiosity."

"Haven't you heard that it was curiosity that killed the cat?" Nanaki said as he raised the brow on his one good eye up at Cait. Cait waved a finger in the air at Nanaki and grinned, showing his small teeth.

"Ah, but my friend, t'was satisfaction that brought him back."

"Touché," Nanaki said as he closed his eye and laid back down. Cloud lightly shook his head with a smile and stood from his seat.

"You two better get some rest before we hit Junon. It's going to be a hard fight and I want you both at your best." Nanaki lightly nodded without opening his eye, but Cait leaned back in his chair and polished his knuckles on his chest.

"Now that's a paradox considerin' I'm always at me best!" Cloud sighed at the level of cockiness Reeve had when using his alter ego and exited the room. Cloud walked his way back through the corridors until he came to the entryway into the main bridge. He was about to enter through the hydraulic doorway when he caught a slight glimmer of crimson from the corner of his eye coming from the shadows. When he turned his full focus onto it, he could see Vincent standing there.

"Vincent."

"Cloud. I'm sure Cait found you and told you about the mansion." Cloud nodded and stepped closer.

"You think there could be anything there?" Vincent looked away for a moment and then returned to look at Cloud.

"It's possible. Hojo kept a lot of secret files there that only he knew about. He had a sick obsession with reading about his own work; I wouldn't put it past him to have a copy there." Cloud nodded and then let a moment of silence pass before he focused on the subject of the group.

"You think everyone's ready for this fight?" Vincent looked up, displaying one of the rare moments that his entire face was visible from behind his red mantle.

"I would think so. We've been through worse before; this should only be like a milk run. After all, these three aren't Sephiroth." Cloud took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he understood what Vincent was saying.

"Even so, there still stronger than anything we've went up against in awhile. I just hope no one's rusty after all this time." Vincent let out a dry sound and stood away from the shadows.

"You won't have to worry about that, Cloud. Some things are harder to forget than others." Vincent then walked past Cloud and went through the hydraulic door into the bridge. Cloud understood what Vincent was saying, and he knew that everyone would do well. Before the door had a chance to close, Cloud slipped through and entered the bridge.

The main bridge of the _Shera_ was much different than the one of the _Highwind_. The decks were lined with wood and there was a painting of Cid's favorite pin-up girl with his name painted in fancy script. The front end was a large glass dome that allowed a full range of view. In the center towards the back was an upraised section that housed the main wheel, where Cid was now at. Yuffie was now leaning on the frame to the large glass dome, trying to concentrate on the distant unmoving horizon. Vincent had moved to the bulkhead behind her where he was now leaning with his head lowered. Barret was standing on the opposite side of the bridge, where he was looking down at the mountains below. Cloud walked over to him and looked down as well.

Barret didn't notice Cloud at first, but when he did, he gave a slight jump and shook his head.

"Damn Spikey, you shouldn' sneak up on a man like that. I could'a blown you away." Cloud gave Barret a look of disbelief and shook his head.

"I'd like to see you try that sometime."

"Yea, yea, you think you all big an' bad now since you've taken on more of Hojo's sideshows than anyone else. One of these days I'm gonna have to take you down a peg or two, put you back in yo' place." Barret could only maintain his serious façade for a few seconds before he cracked a smile. Cloud lightly did the same and then asked if he was ready.

"Ready? Shi't, I've been ready my whole life for this kind of shit. You think I got rusty lookin' for oil? Hell, I'll kick more ass and take more names than any of you other suckas combined." Cloud shook his head and laughed a bit at Barret's expense.

"Well, you just make sure you don't get yourself killed. I don't think they make a casket big enough for someone like you." Barret lightly gave Cloud the finger with his artificial appendage and then turned back around to the view.

"You do the same Spikey. If I tried to bury you, the health board would come after me thinkin' I was tryin' to bury a Chocobo," Barret said with his back turned to Cloud. Cloud lightly shook his head and turned to head up the three steps to the upraised section. When he got there, Cid looked at him from the corner of his eye and gave an annoyed sound at Cloud's presence.

"I guess protocol doesn't mean shit to ya, does it Strife? You know only the Captain or an officer is allowed at the wheel station?" Cloud shrugged and then continued to stand where he was, showing that he really didn't care. Cid lightly growled to himself and shook his head.

"No damned respect anymore with you young sons of bitches, that's your problem. And why you here anyways? You checkin' on me to see if I'm ready for this shit or somethin'?" Cloud was about to speak, but Cid interrupted before he could. "Let me tell you somethin', I've been lookin' for a good fight ever since that Deep Ground shit hit the fan. You know just how much goddamned damage those no good shits did to my ship!?! Took me nearly two months to get her back up an' runnin' and that's saying somethin' since I really don't know how this fuckin' bird stays in the air! Shera's sick an' tired of hearin' me bitch all the time, so I gotta take my frustration out on somethin', might as well be these Returner bastards I keep hearin' about. Shit, you aught to be worried more for their safety than mine, I can tell you that right now!" Cid then took a long drag from his nearly spent cigarette and let the smoke roll out of his nostrils. Cloud was about to add something to their one sided conversation, but he could tell that Cid was a firecracker waiting to explode at any moment. Instead, Cloud just nodded and stepped back down from the raised platform.

By now, the slight purple hue of morning was spilling across the land from behind them, lighting the clouds with a magical quality. But as beautiful as it was, no one on the _Shera_ was able to enjoy it, since it was the telling sign that they were racing against time.

Cloud walked over to the dome and looked out at the horizon. From behind him, he heard the sound of the hydraulic doorway opening and within a moment there was a familiar warm body standing next to him. Cloud turned and smiled at Tifa, who was now looking out at the horizon as well.

"You talk to everyone?" she said in a quiet tone. Cloud nodded back to her. She then smiled and looked into Cloud's blue eyes.

"Well, we should be fine then," Tifa said. Together they looked into each other's eyes before they both turned back to the horizon and the fate that awaited them all.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Colonel Hargrove threw back the thick grainy tin cup of coffee in a single gulp and placed his well-chewed cigar butt back into the corner of his mouth. The deadline time that the strange Returners leader had given was becoming painfully near, and everyone that was stationed at their defensive posts were over anxious.

As he walked through the make-shift barracks in the hallways of the WRO building, he saw the faces of the young men and women looking towards him; each of them wanting to catch a glimpse that some sort of miracle was about to come about. Word had been sent that reinforcements were on their way, but if they didn't show up soon there wouldn't be much of a defense force for them to relieve.

Hargrove walked out onto what was once an executive's private balcony, now a small artillery station, and took the offered binoculars from a young lieutenant. When he surveyed the large city square before him, the level of carnage from the day before was still present. Burning rubble still smoked from the previous day, and many of the fallen from both sides of this conflict were still lying where they fell. At points that had defendable access routes, three-member teams of machine-gun operators sat at the ready. Though the guns were manned throughout the night, Hargrove had had them relieved an hour before dawn so the guns were now manned with men that were more alert.

All of the Junior Officers had their platoons at their defensive posts now, each defending a certain section of the defensive line. All of the WRO soldiers sat in anticipation of what was surely to be the final assault on their position. As Hargrove scanned the city square borders for any sign of movement, the final battle for control of Junon began.

Without a hint of warning, a streak of gray smoke raced out from a distant building's window and crashed into one of the machine-gun nests erupting it in a fiery explosion. Hargrove instantly looked at the window with his binoculars and saw the two-man rocket launcher team reloading their weapon before they took the next shot. In quick reaction, another machine-gun nest opened fire on their position, striking the surface of their building with a fury of red-hot lead that battered the building into finely chopped rubble.

But in answer, another rocket flew from another window, striking the machine-gun nest that was assaulting the previous rocket launcher point. The two other machine-gun nests turned to fire, but they were both silenced by yet more rockets. A team of snipers on the roof of the WRO building quickly fired, taking out the Returners manning the rocket launchers, but the damage had been done; the WRO had lost its front line of defense.

Hargrove cursed aloud and briefly thought about giving the order to begin an artillery barrage of the distant buildings, but the close proximity to his own position would present too much of a danger to his men. Now there was only one line of defense that would have to hold until the reinforcements came, and that line was the men and women who defended the WRO building themselves.

The Returners also could see this, and it wasn't before long that they soon began to move in. At first it sounded like someone was hitting a massive drum from the opposite end of the city, but once the lines of well equipped Returner Regulars began to pour out from the opposite side and entered the square, it became apparent that it was the sound of their marching.

As the ominous sound echoed throughout the demolished city square, the sweat began to pour out of the nervously waiting and heavily outnumbered WRO troopers. Hargrove took his cigar butt out of his mouth and spat on the ground. It didn't take an officer to realize that this was it, the end was surely about to come. But something did come.

From high above, the rapidly charging missiles came crashing down in a display of hellacious rain of fire and brimstone. Hargrove looked into the air and saw the rapidly flying forms of a dozen airships, each with smoking missile pods and rapidly firing machine-guns. The airships raced low, skimming the cityscape as their guns dealt out death to the Returners. The WRO troopers all stood and cheered at this new turn of events, but Hargrove knew that the battle wasn't even near being over yet. From the direction of the airfield, the sounds of troops transports dropping their loading ramps echoed and soon several thousand ground reinforcements were coming in, bolstering their defense numbers.

As the airships finished up their attack runs, a larger airship slowed above the city square long enough for eight parachutes to open before it sped off. The parachuting group soon hit the surface, and quickly they pulled off the cumbersome packs and stood before the WRO building in a face off with the massive numbers of the Returners. Hargrove recognized two of them, the same blonde and red-cloaked man who had fought yesterday. But with them was a strange rag-tag group that would have made any regular person question their sanity at the sight, but to anyone who knew about what had happened four years ago, they recognized this strange group to be that of AVALANCHE.

Cloud flexed both of his arms and removed one of the long serrated blades from the First Tsurugi and readied himself. Barret transformed his right appendage to the massive four-barreled Gatling gun and gave a wicked grin towards the Returners. Tifa pulled on her black fighting gloves and stood in her usual fighting stance. Nanaki hunched his front shoulders and growled at the enemy, showing his glistening fangs. Yuffie twirled her large shuriken and quickly went into a stylish battle pose. Vincent glared at the enemy horde and leveled the barrel of Cerberus at a particular nasty looking individual. Cid placed his spear on his shoulder and continued to enjoy his cigarette in a manner that showed that he really didn't care whether these Returners posed a threat to him or not. Cait Sith bounced around in his usual ecstatic manner, flashing multiple rude hand gestures in the direction of the enemy mob.

Cloud lightly nodded to his group and gave the word to attack. "All right, everyone, let's mos-"

"Oh come on, damn it!"

"All right, MOVE OUT!" And with this, the members of AVALANCHE were charging in full force.

Spurred on by the sudden movement of the group, the Returner Regulars too jumped into action, charging the group of eight with a bloodlust that was palpable to anyone within a twenty-mile radius.

Vincent was the first to strike, firing Cerberus at the menacing individual he had singled out before. The bullet caught the unsuspecting fiend between the eyes, making his head snap backwards before his limp body fell to the ground. Before the barrel of Cerberus finished smoking, Vincent fired another volley of shots, each one hitting its target true.

Barret soon followed suit and unleashed a deadly barrage of rapidly fired lead that struck the advancing line without prejudice. But even with Barret and Vincent firing into the advancing line, the distance between both Avalanche and the Returners soon closed and they entered into close quarter combat.

Cloud was quick to act, diving into the crowd of sword-brandishing Regulars with both of his swords making only a flash of reflected morning light as they found their targets and dispatched them to the Lifestream. A few of the Returners were able to block one of Cloud's blows, but the second one always caught them by surprise. Cloud spun once in an arching circle and sent lifeless bodies of the attackers flying away from him before he jumped again into a mass of incoming enemies.

Tifa ducked and weaved with a proficient speed that these enemies had never seen. She dodged one swing from a sword and caught an incoming baton before she swung her leg swiftly under her attacker, taking his legs out from underneath him. When he hit the ground, she mercilessly performed an axe kick and caved his chest in upon itself. Another Returner tried to swing a sword at her head, but she merely ducked and thrust upwards with her palm, striking the man in his nose and forcing the broken cartilage up into his skull.

Yuffie hurled her shuriken into the crowd and while it flew through the air, removing weapons from enemy's hands and occasionally separating their heads as well, she performed a few martial arts moves she had learned over the years. One Returner at first laughed at seeing a young girl trying to be in this fight, but a swift kick to his crotch sent him to the ground, sniveling in pain. Yuffie had time to let out a dry laugh before she caught her shuriken and jumped high into the air to release it again.

Nanaki bellowed a loud battle cry as he slashed at a Returner with his razor sharp claws. Though he only had one eye, his heightened reflexes alerted him that an enemy was trying to attack him from behind, so he shot his tail up into the face of his would-be attacker and blinded him with his flaming tail. Before the blinded enemy could react, Nanaki wheeled around and head butted him, slicing his abdomen in five places with his deadly headdress. Another Returner was about to swing his baton at him, but Nanaki glared at him with his eye and drove fear into the heart of this man, who then merely turned around and ran.

As this man ran, he didn't get too far before he was blasted with a searing hot bolt of lightning that shot through the air and zapped him dead on the spot. Cait didn't pause a moment after he did this though, and quickly jumped onto the shoulders of another Returner. As the man tried to fight him off of his back, Cait pummeled his head with a series of rapid punches, though they weren't strong enough to do much other than annoy the man. The Returner was able to realize this and turned his sword upwards in an attempt at driving the menace away. But Cait smiled widely as he turned his focus onto his Ice materia and quickly turned the man's head into a large lump of ice. As the man fell to the ground, Cait performed a back flip and landed in a crouch just as the man hit the ground and his frozen block of a head shattered into a thousand pieces.

Cid grunted as he thrusted his spear into the midsections of three Returners and then pulled the tip out. Cid took the moment to pause in the combat to take a long drag off of his cigarette, but he was soon cut short when another Returner Regular tried to swing his sword at Cid's head. Cid was able to evade the attack, but the blade cut off the end of his cigarette. Cid instantly grinded his teeth together and he jumped at his attacker with a new found fury. Soon he had jammed the end of his spear into the attacker's midsection, but before he removed the end of his weapon, he heaved the man into the air and flung the body at another group of Returners, knocking them down to the ground. Before they could stand back up, Cid was jumping high into the air, ready to bring the deadly point of his weapon down on their defenseless selves.

Cloud blocked a swing from an enemy's sword and pushed it away. This created a gap large enough in the enemy's defenses for Cloud to swing with the serrated blade, cutting the enemy down. By now, the Returners were learning that Cloud wasn't someone that they could hope of taking one-on-one and surviving, so a group of them now decided to attack him all at once. Cloud saw what they were trying to do, so he jumped back to gain some room and focused his energy onto the main blade of the First Tsurugi. With a tremendous crash, Cloud brought the energy-laden blade down, sending a Blade Beam racing out to hit the lead member of the group that was charging him. When the beam hit, the energy ripped through him and then separated into multiple other beams as it passed to the remaining members. When the energy finally dissipated, all ten of the charging group was now dead.

Barret continued to fire wildly into the mass of Returners, but soon a small group of them were heading towards him with the intention of silencing his massive machine-gun. After one of their shots missed his head by mere inches, Barret let out a long string of curses as he charged his central gun for a massive one-shot attack. When the Big Shot fired off, the recoil pushed Barret back several feet. The massive flying green ball of energy hit the charging group and sent their flaming bodies flying back. Barret again cursed at the now dead attackers and charged forward to fire at another group of would-be victims.

Tifa was now blocking rapidly flying punches from a Regular that seemed to know a bit about martial arts. As the two exchanged blows that the other was blocking, a small group of spectating Returners began to cheer for their man. The Returner sneered at Tifa as she tried to punch him in his face, but he only dodged his head out of the way each time. As if he thought that the woman that he was fighting wasn't much of a match for his skills, he tied to lunge at her and catch her in a bear hug. As his arms tried to close around her, Tifa ducked low and then jumped up with a tremendous cracking somersault that sent the man flying helplessly into the air. Tifa then jumped after him, grabbed him by the throat, and threw him back down at the ground. When he hit, he landed with such a force that the concrete shattered, and the shockwave rippled out, making all the spectators fall flat on their faces.

Nanaki now faced off against twenty Returners, all of which were being very cautious about taking on the strange menacing creature. Nanaki knew what he was going to do next, so he hunched down on his shoulders and let out a deafening howl that made his enemy's step back in both puzzlement and fear. Nanaki then called upon the strength of his ancestors and charged outright at the group. With a blinding speed, he darted all around them, slashing and cutting them with his claws and headdress. All the Returners could see was a blinding flash of red as he did this; all the while they were helpless to do anything. When Nanaki finally came to a stop, all of the attackers he had faced stood wobbling for a moment before they fell dead to the ground.

Yuffie quickly jabbed and slashed with her shuriken as she ran to and fro among the Returners. She ran so far into their ranks that she soon became separated from the rest of her group, and the surrounding Returners knew this. As they tried to advance towards her, Yuffie realized that she was surrounded. Quickly, she began to spin in a circle, and after revolving enough times to put the momentum into her shuriken, she let it go and watched as it flew around her in a circle, cutting down her attackers as it went. When she caught it, she gave them all a smug grin and ran back to where the others were.

Vincent rapidly fired Cerberus and reloaded with a blinding speed and efficiency. One of the Returners tried to get close enough to stab him with a bayonet, but Vincent grabbed him with his left hand, pulled the pin on a grenade that the man had on his belt, and hurled him towards the other Returners. When he was in mid air, Vincent put three bullets into him seconds before he collided with a group of Returners. When the grenade went off, the explosion took out several of the enemy. The shockwave pushed Vincent's hair back, but he continued to stand his ground and fired at the Returners.

Cid continued on his mad rampage, never pausing for a brief moment as he rammed his spear into random Returners. Now that he had no cigarette, he was becoming very irritated, and when he saw a Returner pointing at an airship that was flying by, Cid lunged forward and smacked the man with the broadside of his spear. When the Returner stood back up, Cid jammed the sharpened point into his crotch and then punched him in his face as hard as he could with his right hand. When the Returner was knocked out cold, both from the punch and the gaping wound, Cid spat on him and moved on for another kill.

By this time, the amount of impact on the battlefield that Avalanche was having was quite apparent. Now all of the WRO soldiers who had thought that the end was near for them, saw a beacon of hope shining in front of them. Colonel Hargrove tossed the butt of his cigar away and loudly gave out his order.

"CHARGE!!!" The ranks of the WRO soon answered with loud battle cries, and they poured out into the city square to take on the Returners. As they entered combat, the loud crashing sounds deafened the ears.

It wasn't long before the ranks of Returners started to break and fall, and Cloud could see that the WRO soldiers could handle finishing them off. With a quick waving motion, he gave the sign for the rest of Avalanche to meet at his location.

When they all got there, breathing heavily but otherwise uninjured, Cloud gave them a nod of approval.

"All right. The WRO troops can handle the rest here, lets head to the entrance of the reactor." And with this, they were now off to take on the true menace to the world.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As Cloud and the others broke away from the main site of combat, the WRO troopers began to push the Returners back away from the Headquarters building. When the members of Avalanche entered a deserted alleyway, the sound of combat died away and became distant. Though they continued on at a steady pace, they took enough time to make sure that they were all ready and prepared for the main battle that was about to begin.

Cloud paused as he looked out of the alleyway at the entrance to the underground tunnel that would lead to the reactor. Though this was the site of the Returners' base, it was left completely unguarded.

"I don't like the looks of this," Cloud said as he narrowed his brow. Vincent too shared in his dislike of the situation, but nothing could be done about it.

"It could be a trap," Yuffie said with a hint of worry in her voice.

"The hell with it; these bastards want a piece of me then they bitin' off more than they can chew," Barret said as he leveled his massive death-dealing appendage at the entrance area.

"Well, whether it's a trap or not, I guess it doesn't really matter. We have to go down there," Tifa said with resolve. Cloud nodded in agreement, and after waiting a moment to see if something might happen, he stepped out into the street. Cloud took several steps into the street, and after nothing happened, the rest of the group followed.

As they walked towards the tunnel entrance, all of their ears were open for any sound that might betray a trap, but the only thing they heard was the sound of each other walking and the distant gunfire that was coming from the dwindling battle.

Again Cloud cautiously took his time in opening the sealed doorway that led towards the tunnel, and again there was nothing but silence to greet him. As Cloud entered, he looked to the rest of the group and lightly shrugged.

As they continued to make their way down through the tunnel, nothing but dead damp air met them. When they reached the elevator, all of them stood on the platform and Vincent hit the key to begin them on their journey deep into the bedrock. As the elevator slowly took them down, everyone shifted uneasily as they all wondered why they hadn't run into any resistance.

"Maybe we was wrong about thinkin' the Returners were down here," Barret said as he checked his arm. Cid flicked his chrome lighter open and lit a cigarette and took a long drag before he blew it out.

"Could be, but then those sons of bitches have to be somewhere."

"No, they're here. They have to be," Cloud said. Cid shrugged and continued to enjoy himself. For the next few moments, they continued on in silence. Nanaki raised his head and sniffed at the air, and whatever he was smelling made him lightly grin.

"What is it?" Yuffie asked as she tried to smell the air. Nanaki looked at her with his good eye and scrunched his nose.

"The air is heavy with the smell of Mako. Indeed Arvin and his gang are here, or at least someone has activated the reactor."

The elevator platform came to a sudden stop at the bottom, and everyone slowly began to walk towards the glass tunnel that led to the reactor. The closer that they all came to the reactor, the stronger the smell of Mako became, even becoming noticeable to those who didn't have heightened senses of smell like Nanaki.

When they reached the glass tunnel, the bright green glow from the Mako Reactor illuminated the shaft and colored the ocean floor in a mystifying way. Quietly now they all made their way towards the reactor entrance. Above them in the visible ocean water, strange varieties of fish swam to and fro, all attracted by the strange green glow. Cloud didn't pay them any mind, because now he was focusing on the open doors to the reactor.

At first he was wondering why the doors were left open, but he pushed the thought aside and led the group into the reactor. The interior of the reactor was much as it was four years ago, however much of the metal that was exposed to the moisture was rusting. The air was filled with the sickly sweet odor of Mako, obviously caused by weakened seals within the reactor's conduits.

As they walked into the main inner chamber that once held the submarines, Yuffie yelled aloud, much too loud for anyone's comfort, and pointed high at a row of objects that were situated on a higher level. When Cloud and the others looked at what she was pointing at, they all knew that their suspicions were confirmed. Above them stationed along the wall were twelve Mako Radiation pods, and in each one was a subject being showered with Mako.

"I'm so glad you could make it," a voice called from the entryway into the reactor core. Cloud's head snapped to the source and saw the three that they were looking for emerge from the core. Smiling down at them was the black haired leader, Arvin, his bright green eyes emitting a strong light. Once Arvin was sure that he had all of their attentions, he sneered playfully.

"You must pardon my, rudeness, the last time we met Cloud Strife. But you see, I didn't know that you were the one who defeated the Great Sephiroth. You could say that we've been in isolation for some years. But after fighting you, it makes me wonder if the legends of Sephiroth's strength were exaggerated." Cloud gritted his teeth in anger and held his two swords ready to jump at Arvin. Arvin saw this, and smirked at finding a topic that could set Cloud off.

Arvin then turned his gaze to focus on the twelve Mako pods, and with a sweeping hand motion, he pointed them out to the group.

"And now let me introduce you both to this world's future, and your fates. Inside these Mako pods lay the harbingers of a new order; my order. With them at my command, I will conquer this world and bring order to chaos. It will be a glorious endeavor, but I'm afraid you won't live to see it." With this final sentence, Arvin gave a quick hand sign to his two comrades, and all three jumped forward to attack.

As the three came at them, the members of Avalanche broke up into two groups, each concentrating on fighting one of the two comrades of Arvin. Cloud instead jumped forward, and brought the Tsurugi up to block Arvin's swing. In a tremendously loud display of clangs and sparks, the two began to swing and hit at each other without mercy.

Abrams swung down hard with his dual bladed sword, trying to hit Barret as he leveled his machine-gun arm at him. Barret was able to leap out of the way just as the blade cut deep into the metal floor. While Abrams was trying to pull out his sword, Barret quickly transformed his appendage into a pile bunker and hit Abrams hard in his side. Abrams was able to recover from the massive hit and unlocked his dual blade into two separate swords, then swung the newly freed blade towards Barret. Barret took the impact on his metallic arm, but the force of the blow sent him flying to crash into a storage crate.

Vincent fired Cerberus rapidly at Owzer as he tried to bring his one sai to bear on a constant weaving and ducking Tifa. Owzer got hit by one of the shots, which made him drop his sai. Vincent then sprang forward and kicked the metal weapon away. Owzer jumped away from Tifa and charged Vincent, who quickly holstered Cerberus and spun his red cloak in Owzer's face. The distraction was all the time that Vincent needed. He quickly dodged out of the way of the charging Owzer and brought his knee up hard into Owzer's abdomen. When he slightly reeled over from this hit, Vincent punched him in the throat with his gauntlet-covered hand. But as Owzer flew back from this move, he grabbed Vincent's still outstretched hand and flung him towards a wall.

Cid now squared off against Abrams, who had recovered his other sword and again made it into one solid weapon. Cid jabbed his spear end at Abrams, but the big man was able to parry the blows away. Abrams smirked at Cid's attempts, but this only infuriated Cid all the more. In a solid swift motion, Cid spun around with his spear held tightly in his grasp, and hit Abrams's side with a deadly blow. Abrams took the brunt of this attack and skidded several feet back. Without giving him time to collect himself, Cid pounced on him and tried to stab Abrams with the deadly tip of his spear. But before he could connect, Abrams swung the blade of his double-edged sword and pushed the spear tip away from himself. Then Abrams swung his leg hard around, catching Cid in the ribs and sent him to the ground. Abrams raised his blade high into the air for the killing strike, but a sudden burst of energy barreled into him and pushed him away. When he looked at what had caused this, he saw the snarling mouth of Nanaki, revealing all of his glistening fangs.

Nanaki instantly jumped forward, faking to his left but hitting Abrams on his right, cutting deep into the giant's flesh with his serrated headdress. This move made Abrams bellow out in pain, and as he tried to skewer Nanaki on his sword's end, the four-legged fighter proved to be too agile for him.

Tifa dodged a high punch from Owzer and then punched him hard in his ribs. Owzer was able to recover rather quickly and caught Tifa off guard, striking her across her face. Tifa spun around in a circle from the power of the impact, but she didn't let that phase her one bit. Again she attacked, this time pummeling Owzer with a quick series of punches, followed by a somersaulting kick upwards. Tifa was about to perform another attack, but Owzer dodged out of the way and blasted her with a bolt of lightning. The materia blast caught her by surprise, and she took the full brunt of the attack. Owzer then charged her before she could get back up, but a flying shuriken made him stop short.

Yuffie caught the shuriken in mid flight and launched it at Owzer again. As the flailing blade coursed its way through the air, Yuffie charged hard and tried to sweep his feet from out under him. Owzer jumped into the air to avoid her kick, but the shuriken caught him across his chest, cutting him deeply. Owzer's face turned to one of extreme rage, and he grabbed Yuffie by the collar of her shirt and threw her to the ground next to Tifa. He was about to exact his revenge on the two women when suddenly a hailstorm of bullets began to rain down on him.

Cloud grunted as he pushed Arvin's blade back and then swung as hard as he could with the blade in his left hand. Arvin blocked this blow and then spun around to attack Cloud's right. Cloud blocked this blow with the Tsurugi, but Arvin moved with a swift motion and kicked Cloud hard in his stomach, which sent him spiraling away. Cloud was able to catch himself on one of the interior walls, and took the time to connect the serrated blade with the rest of the First Tsurugi, making it fully complete. Cloud pushed off from the wall and thrust the blade at a waiting Arvin. Arvin blocked the attack, and with a swift upward motion from his sword, hit Cloud's blade and sent Cloud flying up into the air. Arvin jumped after him, but Cloud was ready and swung down on Arvin with all his might. Arvin's blade took the brunt of the attack, but Arvin still went flying towards the ground and impacted hard. Cloud charged back down towards Arvin to finish him off, but Arvin was back up and blocked Cloud's deathblow. Now that they were both on the ground, they squared off against each other and instantly engaged in a multitude of blocked blows and attacks that echoed throughout the reactor.

Cait Sith watched the three separate battles nervously, and wondered just what he could do. Though he regarded himself as being the peak of technological innovation, his physical strength left much to be desired. However, he was well equipped with several forms of mastered materia, but he couldn't get an attack in without risking injury to one of his friends. He then looked up and saw the twelve Mako pods pulsing with the strange green glow. Cait smiled to himself and set off to climb the metal staircase that went to the upper level. Through the hail of gunfire coming from both Vincent and Barret, Cait was able to run up the stairs and make it to the twelve pods. Cait jumped up to look inside through the small window, and he could tell by the look of the man inside that the procedure was almost done.

Cait jumped down and ran to the Mako distributor pump that fed each pod with the necessary ingredient. Though Reeve himself was not sure exactly how the radiation procedure went, he was sure that if the pump were destroyed, the people inside them would all perish. For a moment, Cait hesitated, thinking that killing those inside the pump in cold blood was not the most noble thing to do, but then he assured himself that they would be the ones to try and take over the world if they got out, so he made up his mind of what exactly he had to do. Cait reached out with both of his hands and placed them onto the pump controls. He was only going to have one shot at this, and most probably it was going to destroy him. Well, Cait thought to himself, it surely wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Without giving it much further thought, Cait concentrated on his mastered lightning materia and sent massive waves of lightning into the pump, using his own mechanical body as a conductor. As the raw electricity coursed through the machinery, the dials began to spike and several warning buzzers began to sound. The pump was now beginning to behave erratically, and with a sudden ear-deafening explosion, the pump exploded. The twelve pods instantly drained of their Mako, and the persons that were inside slumped over, their own blood now pouring out of the tubes that the Mako was meant to flow into. A few of them awoke and tried to fight their way out, but they were much too weak and soon passed away from the loss of blood.

Down below, everyone briefly paused to see what exactly it was that had exploded, and when they saw that it was the pods, all of Avalanche gave out cheer. However, Arvin, Abrams, and Owzer all sneered and doubled their attack efforts. As they all continued to fight, more warning klaxons sounded, and soon an automated voice recording came over the loud speakers.

"_Warning! Warning! Core system overload! Core breech is imminent! All staff report to evacuation routes now!_"

Barret and Cid exchanged a look and knew that they had to end the fight with the massive freak as soon as they could. Barret, Cid, and Nanaki all charged Abrams at once, and Abrams took up a stance that showed that he was ready for whatever they had for him. But instead of all attacking at once like Abrams thought that they would do, both Cid and Nanaki dove out of the way to each side of him, while Barret continued to charge. Abrams paid no attention to the other two and focused primarily on Barret. Abrams swung his double-bladed sword high above his head and brought it down in a massive swing, but Barret saw it coming and ducked out of the way. Barret then punched Abrams as hard as he could with his pile bunker, again sending Abrams back. But before Abrams could recover, he tripped over the waiting form of Nanaki, who barreled into the giant's legs. As Abrams fell over, he felt a sudden jerk that halted his momentum. For a moment, the large freak was not able to understand how this happened, but when he looked down at his chest, he saw the large bloody blade tip of Cid's spear that had erupted from his chest. Abrams coughed out a mouthful of blood, and as Cid removed his spear blade from Abrams's back, Abrams fell over dead. His final thought was wondering just how he fell for that old trick.

Yuffie kicked Owzer in his chin as Tifa punched him hard in his back, but Owzer pushed both of them away and furiously charged for the young ninja. Yuffie tried to dodge one of Owzer's quick chops, but she wasn't fast enough. The blow hit her on her collarbone, and as she winced from the pain, she knew that he had broken it. Yuffie tried not to let the pain show, but her eye watered and she emitted a slight sound that could have been taken for a whimper. Owzer smirked widely at this and was about to kick her hard in the head, but Tifa grabbed him by the shoulders and flung him backwards.

Owzer caught himself and now charged towards Tifa. She blocked several of Owzer's erratic blows, and she could tell that he was loosing his control. Tifa took the initiative to strike and kicked Owzer hard in his side, but Owzer caught her leg and flung her into a metal pylon where she crumpled to the floor. Before he could do any more damage, Vincent was back on him.

Owzer blocked the blows coming from the man in the red cloak, but he could see that there was a renewed fury in the crimson eyes. Vincent punched Owzer hard in the chin, then he kicked him with a tremendous force to the groin. Vincent then pulled Owzer up with his gauntleted hand and sneered into his face. Owzer briefly smirked back and removed a hidden knife from his sleeve. He stabbed Vincent deep into his side, but Vincent wasn't phased one bit. Instead Vincent pulled the small blade out, which was now covered with his blood, and flung it away. Now Owzer's level of confidence had fallen and he looked at Vincent with a profound level of confusion. Vincent growled loudly and then heaved Owzer away from him.

As Owzer flew through the air, he stopped short when a swift kick from Tifa caught him in his back, sending him flying into the air. Owzer was about to correct himself and prepare for another attack when his breath was knocked out of him by the shuriken that struck his gut, cutting even deeper than before. Owzer let out a roar of anger and was prepared to finish the ninja girl off, but a sensation of cold steel pressed against his temple made him realize that he was beaten. Without wasting a moment, Vincent pulled the trigger of Cerberus and dispatched the redheaded menace to the world beyond.

Cloud and Arvin pressed their blades against each other, exacting all of their might against the other. Cloud, through gritted teeth, looked at Arvin and spoke.

"You're beaten; you might as well give up!" Arvin quickly drew away and fell back, making Cloud slightly stumble forward since he wasn't expecting that move. Arvin leveled the tip of his sword at Cloud and entered a fighting stance.

"You may have beaten my plan, but I can still win this fight!" He then charged Cloud, who swung his Tsurugi at Arvin's blade and knocked it out of the way. Cloud tried to swing at him again, but Arvin had already moved out of range.

"You crazy? This whole place is about to blow!" Cloud yelled. Arvin only grinned, and Cloud could see that there was nothing left of a sane person inside those hollow glowing eyes.

"I know. And I plan on taking you with me!" Again Arvin charged, but Cloud jumped high into the air to avoid him. While he was in the air, Cloud removed one of the serrated blades and was ready for the now jumping Arvin, who was brandishing his own sword. Cloud struck quickly with both of his blades, and Arvin blocked both of the attacks, but Arvin had a trick up his sleeve. After blocking both of the attacks, Arvin kicked hard with his boot and struck Cloud's left hand, loosening his grip on the serrated blade. Arvin then used this to his advantage and struck the thin blade, sending it spiraling away from Cloud's hand. Cloud briefly looked to see the blade lodge itself between two of the metal supports for the reactor wall, the blade tip facing outwards.

Arvin took the opportunity of a distracted Cloud and attacked, but Cloud was able to bring the Tsurugi up in time to block the blow. Cloud gripped the Tsurugi with both hands and swung hard, pushing Arvin back. But Arvin returned with another blow of his own, this one coursing with his bright iridescent spirit energy. Cloud knew which attack this was; it was the same that Arvin had hit him with the last time they had fought. But unlike last time, Cloud had enough time to think and prepare a defense.

As Arvin brought the flaming blade down on Cloud's position, Cloud simply moved his head out of the way and didn't block the blow with the Tsurugi. Arvin missed, and his momentum carried himself through with the attack enough to make him loose his balance. Cloud then charged his own blade, and with both hands, smashed the Tsurugi into the back of Arvin, sending his now flaming body towards the wall and Cloud's waiting serrated blade.

Arvin crashed into the wall with a sickening thud, and the long serrated blade stuck three feet out of his chest. For a moment, it appeared that Arvin was dead, but he quickly looked up, his eyes afire with rage. With trembling hands, Arvin gripped the blade and began to pull himself off, but Cloud acted first. Cloud charged him with the Tsurugi ready for the final blow. Arvin looked up and had enough time to roar in anger at his own defeat before Cloud cleaved Arvin's upper body in two.

As Cloud did this, the rest of Avalanche was meeting back up in the center of the large chamber. Vincent was lightly holding his side with his left hand and Tifa was helping Yuffie by letting her lean on her shoulder. Cid puffed on his cigarette and lightly made a disgusted face when he saw the remnants of Arvin fall to the floor. When Cloud was back on the ground with them, he placed the now free blade into the First Tsurugi and then put it into his back harness. They were about to congratulate each other, but a sudden shaking and trembling that echoed throughout the entire reactor made them all remember that the core was becoming unstable.

"Let's get the !#$# out a here!" Cid yelled as he broke away and was the first to head towards the reactor entrance. As they all charged towards the exit, the reactor walls began to buckle inwards and loud cracks from the failing foundations split the air. Portions of the upper ceiling began to give way, sending large chunks of debris to rain down on Avalanche as they tried to escape. From far behind them, the glow from the reactor core intensified to a brightness that made all other vision impossible while it emitted a high pitched whine as all of its safety features began to buckle under the heavy load.

As Cloud and the others charged out of the reactor and entered the long thick glass tunnel, the vibrations from the overloading core caused large cracks to appear in the glass. As they continued to run, they raced the cracks as they ripped through the glass, all the while hoping that the tunnel would hold long enough for them to escape. Just as they all reached the safety of the elevator platform, Barret hit the control button and the platform began to lift with an excruciatingly slow speed.

Yuffie clutched her hands close together and jumped up and down nervously, wanting the elevator to make it to the top. But a sudden jerk shook the elevator shaft, and a deafening rumbling sound came from below. As the sound got louder and louder, everyone exchanged a look and they were able to brace themselves moments before the rush of surging ocean water raced up into the elevator shaft, hit the bottom of the elevator platform, and propelled it upwards as the water seeked a way to balance itself.

As the platform shakily raced upwards, everyone went down to stand on all fours in an attempt to keep themselves balanced. Yuffie laid flat on the platform and looked up at the ceiling trying not to loose her lunch. It took her several heart pounding seconds to realize that unless they did something to slow the elevator's speed, they were going to crash right into the ceiling!

"Guys! The ceiling!" Yuffie exclaimed at the top of her lungs, no longer worrying about keeping her stomach calm. Everyone looked up at the rapidly approaching solid structure, but the only one of them that instantly acted was Barret.

Barret leveled his right arm at his target and converted his arm into a large cannon. As he charged the massive beam weapon, light particles began to build up at the end of the weapon. A loud high-pitched electrical whine filled all of their ears, and Barret let the massive green ball of energy go.

The charge raced upwards and everyone watched on, hoping that it would break through and provide them with a means of escape. When the charge hit, it created a large explosion of bright white light. Small chunks of debris rained back down on them, but all they could see was a bright light where the ceiling had once been. Before anyone could second guess what they were seeing, the elevator platform ripped through the massive hole that Barret had caused and propelled everyone on it upwards.

As everyone flew out of the hole, they all realized that the bright light they were seeing was sunlight. Everyone landed outside of the hole, now standing on what was left of a street. The massive surge of seawater now erupted from the hole in a tremendous geyser, and rained back down on them.

Everyone gave a cheer of triumph that they had made it, but the display of their works wasn't finished yet. The ground beneath their feet trembled yet again, and suddenly, several hundred yards out to sea, a massive air bubble exploded from the surface as the reactor finally went critical. When the bubble finally burst, it released a massive muffled sound of the explosion, which shook every building's foundation and shattered every window in the city.

When the waters had all settled back to where they had originally came from, everyone blinked and tried to rid the loud ringing sound from their ears. When this finally passed, Barret let out a loud cheer and pumped his gun arm high into the air.

"Yeah! That's right! That's how Avalanche rolls!"

"Damn straight!" Cid yelled as he pumped his fist in triumph.

"Woo-hoo!" Yuffie exclaimed as she threw her shuriken into the air and caught it. Tifa clapped loudly and gave Cloud a wide smile, which he calmly returned. Nanaki and Vincent shared a look as they watched Barret and Cid's victory dance that they were now doing.

Cloud was about to tell everyone that they had better go back to the rest of the battle with the Returners, but an army jeep pulled up and an officer who was smoking a large cigar got out. He lightly saluted Cloud and the others and then offered his hand. Cloud took it, and the officer shook it with gusto.

"Goddamn boy, you sure know how to bring reinforcements. I'm Colonel Hargrove, leader of the WRO forces here. You can all take it easy, we just mopped up the last of the Returners. We shouldn't be seein' much of them anymore." Cloud nodded, and briefly motioned towards where the reactor once was.

"You don't have to worry about those three, we took care of them." Hargrove began to laugh and bit down on the end of his cigar.

"Yeah, I thought you might."

* * *

**A/N:** Though the main conflict of the story is complete, there will still be the "warm and fuzzy" chapter that wraps everything up. I'll be posting that one Tuesday. Stay tuned! 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Two days later, after all of the adrenaline had ran its course and Cloud finally got a good night's sleep in what seemed like ages, everyone converged at 7th Heaven for a celebration. Inside the main room of Tifa's bar, everyone from Avalanche was happily talking and laughing together, slapping each other on the back and recounting their own perspective of what had happened two days before.

Cid's laughter echoed throughout the bar as Barret told him about a not so fortunate Returner who took a full on attack from his Pile Bunker to the groin. As Barret described the Returner's face, Marlene sat on his knee and scrunched up her face at her Father's description. Barret reached for his mug of beer and took a long gulp, while Cid took a long hard pull from his whiskey on ice. After Cid placed the empty glass on the table, he put a cigarette in his mouth and was about to light it, but Shera took it out of his mouth and pocketed it.

"Damn it, woman, why'd you take that away from me!?!"

"Because there's children present," Shera said calmly as she sipped her hot tea. Cid angrily shook his head but didn't argue any further with his wife. Marlene looked up at her Father's face and asked a question.

"Did you fight a lot of bad guys?"

"You know it. I had to put those fools back in their place." Marlene smiled widely with pride and hugged Barret strongly.

"That's my Papa!" Barret smiled widely, but also blushed a bit as Cid shook his head. As far as Cid was concerned, he would never be cut out for having a child.

Sitting at the bar on stools were Tifa and Yuffie, who were busily talking about matters that mattered to them. Tifa smiled as Yuffie told her about all the WRO soldier boys that constantly asked her out, but naturally she had to turn them down because she had a job to do. Tifa took a sip of her tea as Yuffie described one particular guy that she might have considered dating if he didn't constantly stutter when he tried to talk to her. Finally Yuffie stopped talking enough to take a sip of her energy drink (now with more caffeine!) and asked Tifa about her and Cloud.

Tifa wasn't expecting that question, but she lightly shrugged and looked over at Cloud, who was using his hands in elaborate recreations of the fight to Denzel. She obviously was deeply in love with him, and though he only told her in private, and even then it was always with deep red blushing cheeks, she knew he loved her back. Tifa looked back at Yuffie and smiled.

"We're doing pretty good. Cloud's getting better all the time, and he keeps his promises for the most part."

"For the most part?" Yuffie asked with renewed interest; the possibility for gossip fueled her with a new energy.

"Well, sometimes something comes up that he has to deal with. Like Reeve's original call about the Returners." Yuffie nodded disappointingly and moved their conversation into yet another discussion about herself, loosing interest once the possibility for gossip melted away.

Far in the corner booth next to the window, Vincent Valentine spoke with Shelke, who was both interested in hearing his recounts of their battle with the Returners, and just simply speaking with Vincent. Shelke never took her eyes off of Vincent as he described the underwater reactor, and because of this she had to make her best guess at the location of her straw for her lemonade (she had finally chosen lemonade as her favorite beverage.) When Vincent was finished explaining, he lightly shrugged and said that that was that. Shelke sat up straight and lightly smiled.

"Very fascinating," Shelke said. Vincent nodded and took a drink from his own glass of lemonade, which was recommended to him by Shelke. "Were you ever able to discover the origins of Arvin and his two comrades?" Vincent placed his glass back on the table and shook his head.

"No, but Reeve thinks that there may be a possibility that other records exist concerning Project X." Shelke nodded silently, but then narrowed her brow as she thought about the facts.

"Even if they find records of their origin, it really does not matter, does it? They are defeated after all." Vincent looked deeply into Shelke's ocean blue eyes and nodded. Reeve might have been concerned with learning exactly what Arvin and his comrades were, but Vincent was in full agreement with Shelke; it really didn't matter anymore. Vincent lightly smiled at Shelke and then he began to ask her about her progress on a new global computer networking system that she was developing for the WRO. Shelke smiled at Vincent's obvious interest and began to tell him about it.

Denzel sat at the table next to Cloud, and listened with his full wide-eyed attention as Cloud described the fight he had with Arvin. Cloud described it accurately enough, but when he got to the gory parts, he glossed them over to not make them seem as graphic.

"Wow! And then what happened, Cloud?" Denzel asked. Cloud shrugged and then began to explain their escape.

"With all the fighting, we forgot that the reactor was about to blow, and when the entire building began to shake, we had to make a run for it. The walls were falling in on us, and the glass tunnel started to shatter as we ran back to the elevator. When we jumped on, it started to take us up." Cloud paused to take a drink of his ice water, but Denzel was so anxious to hear what happened, he looked down at the ground where Nanaki was lazily lying after drinking an entire goblet of Corel wine. Nanaki looked at Denzel with his one good eye and finished where Cloud left off.

"We made it to the elevator, but just as it began to rise, a sudden exploding sound came from beneath us. Instantly we knew that it was the tunnel that had given way, and the rushing ocean water propelled the platform up as if we were in a geyser. Barret acted quickly enough and blasted the ceiling moments before we would have been pulverized." Denzel nearly fell off of his chair as he listened to every word. When Nanaki was finished telling that particular part of the story, Denzel snapped his head around to Cloud and asked if that was what really happened. Cloud smiled and nodded his head saying that it was all true. Denzel took in a deep breath and was purely amazed at what they had all done.

Just then, the bell above the door jingled as a familiar man wearing a blue suit in the Wutai style entered, followed by a mechanical cat that answered to the name of Cait Sith. Marlene jumped up from Barret's knee and ran forward to grab Cait in a deep hug. Though she knew that he was a robot, she loved him none the less. Reeve laughed and patted Marlene gently on the back and then nodded to everyone else in the bar.

"Hey, 'bout time you showed up!" Barret called from the table where he sat.

"What kept you, official business of the state or some such shit?" Cid said, quickly followed by an arm punch from his wife for using profanity in front of the kids. Cid gave her an angry look and shrugged his shoulders to tell her that he didn't see anything wrong with the way he talked.

Vincent and Shelke gave Reeve a welcoming nod, and then returned to their own conversation. Tifa and Yuffie both waved, but before Tifa could say hello, Yuffie went on about this other guy that she would date if he only could wear a belt that matched with his shoes.

Reeve took a seat at Cloud's table and Cloud told Denzel to fetch Reeve a drink.

"I'll have whatever you're drinking," Reeve said as Denzel ran behind the bar. Reeve then turned to Cloud and smiled widely.

"Well, you certainly took care of Arvin. I don't know how we would have faired if we had to go up against him and an entire army of his SOLDIERs." Cloud nodded, and then motioned towards the Cait Sith that Marlene was holding.

"You were the one who acted quickly enough to take out those Mako pods. If they would have opened, I doubt we could have won that fight." Reeve gave Cloud a slightly confused look, but it was soon followed by a mischievous smile.

"I had nothing to do with that, Cloud. That was all Cait's doing." Cloud lightly laughed and asked Reeve the question that had been bugging him for years now.

"Reeve, just how do you control that robot?" Denzel returned and gave Reeve the glass filled with pineapple-orange juice. Reeve thanked him and then gave Cloud a simple wink.

"That's a company secret, Cloud. Now I could tell you, but you'd have to become a full-time employee of the WRO first." Cloud lightly laughed and shook his head.

"Me work for you? I don't think I could take the stress." Both Reeve and Cloud shared a good laugh before Cloud asked him another question. "What were those possibilities for other files on Project X you mentioned before?" Reeve took a sip of the juice, and after giving it his approval, he shrugged and looked at Cloud.

"Oh, it's probably nothing more than a wild goose chase, but I've got a team looking into it right now. If it turns anything up, I'll let you know." Cloud shrugged and looked across the bar and caught Tifa looking lovingly at him while Yuffie continued to talk her ear off. Cloud smiled as he lost himself in her deep warm eyes, and he returned the same affection when she looked into his. At that moment, Cloud could care less what an investigation team might or might not turn up.

* * *

**A/N:** And there you have it, the fifteenth chapter of Return of Darkness. However, I'd be lying if I said this was the _last_ chapter of the story... After all, it is a Final Fantasy story.  



	16. Operation Wild Goose

**A/N:** And now for the obligatory after-the-credits scene that we all expect from a Final Fantasy game_ :)  
_

* * *

_Operation Wild Goose_

Far away from the warm gathering of old friends in Edge, a long black sedan pulled into a small lazy hamlet that was well off of the beaten path. The small town was typical as far as small towns go; a few old family-run style businesses, a quaint city square where the locals would congregate for old fashioned celebrations, and a popular spot for the town's youth to sneak away and profess their love for one another. The town was so unassuming and stereotypical of the small town genre that it rarely peaked visiting people's interests to ask about why they had heard the town's name mentioned in the news nine years ago.

The long black sedan pulled up to the old fashioned well in the center of town and came to a stop. After the motor turned off, three doors opened and three out of place individuals wearing black suits stepped out. One of them had a bald head with a well tended goatee. This individual made sure his sunglasses were firmly sitting on the bridge of his nose and he then adjusted his black neck tie. The driver of the car looked strikingly different. He had bright red hair that he kept lazily in a pony tail, and his obvious enthusiasm for wearing a suit was evident due to his untucked and partially buttoned undershirt. As he stepped out of the car, he lazily looked around the town and shook his head at the deadness of the place. From the rear passenger door came another person wearing the same style of suit. This man was much younger than the other two and he didn't seem to be all that comfortable in the outfit. As he stepped out of the car, he pulled nervously on the bottom of his suit jacket and ran his hands swiftly over his shoulders as if he were trying to eliminate invisible wrinkles.

"Relax, rookie. No one in this town cares what you look like."

"Easy for you to say, Reno," the Rookie said more or less to himself. Reno's lazy look hardened as he focused on his subordinate.

"What was that Russ? You givin' your superior some lip?" Russ shrugged, trying to maintain his façade of cool, but he didn't think that he was doing a rather good job of it. Rude turned and gave Russ a simple look over before he turned to his partner.

"Kid's cocky; reminds me of someone else." Reno rolled his eyes and then waved the possible confrontation away. He walked away from the car and went up the cobblestone-paved road for awhile before he paused. Both Rude and Russ followed him.

"You see that building rookie? What we came to check out is in there." Reno pointed out a dilapidated old mansion that had over grown shrubs around its base and wildly growing vines that snaked their way up the mansion's surface. Several of the darkened windows were shattered, obviously done by the local children that dared each other to do it to prove they weren't chicken. The building was obviously spooky, and Russ thought, for some reason, that it had the look of old fire stained walls. Reno could tell that Russ was spooked out by the building, but he decided that the eight hours of grief he had given the kid during the drive was enough for one day.

"What is that place?" Russ asked as he continued to stare at the ominous structure. Reno shrugged and let his partner answer the question. Rude lightly shrugged and said only two words.

"Shinra Mansion." Russ blinked a few times and then looked at the two older members of the Department of Intelligence and Investigations. He had heard stories about this place; stories that dealt with human experiments, one of which created the person responsible for the most devastating event in recent history. Of course he had thought that all of the stories about these events taking place in one single building were only an urban legend, but obviously he was wrong. Both Reno and Rude could see the level of surprise and shock in the trainee that they were responsible for and exchanged a conniving glance with each other.

Reno opened his mouth wide in a yawn and stretched his arms high above his head. When he was done, he pointed his thumb towards the building and then started to walk towards the local bar.

"Have at it, rookie. Let us know what you find out." Russ turned around to protest, but Rude merely shrugged and followed his partner into the bar. Russ cursed to himself and then turned back to look at the mansion. The sun was about to go down over the horizon, and of any place that Russ could think about being after dark, the old dilapidated mansion certainly was not one of them.

Russ pushed the old wrought iron gate open, which screeched back at him loudly in protest. Crickets chirped from the tall grass and weeds that grew fervently through the cracks of the sidewalk. Russ carefully stepped up to the large ornately carved door and took in a deep breath before he pushed it open. Much to his surprise, the door swung open easily. Russ reached into his jacket and pulled out both his flashlight and his model M007A3 .45 caliber materia-enhanced pistol. After he made sure that the safety was off and that there was a round in the chamber, he clicked his flashlight on and stepped inside the building.

Instantly the smell of stagnant air mixed with old mold poured over him. The interior of the massive hall was much the way that one would think an abandoned house would look like. The carpet was covered in a thick layer of dust, and old dried water pools turned the carpet brittle and moldy.

Russ frowned at the nastiness of the interior of the place and then started to look around for the hidden laboratory and library that all the stories talked about. Obviously the file that they were sent here to locate would be there, if it even existed in the first place. Russ thought that this search for something that could or couldn't exist was a waste of time, but if the Commissioner wanted it done, it had to be done. When Russ realized that, he understood why Reno and Rude made him go into the mansion while they went to enjoy themselves at the bar; privileges of rank.

Russ searched the left side of the house first, and after not finding a way into the basement, he searched the right side. When he entered a hallway that led to a small room with an overturned desk, he let out a frustrated sigh and kicked a can that was rusting away on the floor towards a curved structure in the wall. When the can hit, the strange hollow sound of the wall made Russ raise an eyebrow in puzzlement. He then placed his ear against the stone wall and knocked on it with the end of his flashlight. The sound he heard coming from the other side of the wall was a long hollow sound. Russ stepped back from this wall and grinned widely to himself at his discovery. But now that he found the stairwell, he had to find a way in.

After he searched the wall for any sign of a secret entrance, he went to the opposite room to see if a way in was hidden there. But after not finding one, he frustratingly scratched his head and thought about his situation for a moment. Suddenly it occurred to him that maybe the entrance was on the second floor, so he cautiously made his way up the massive staircase and entered the small bedroom closest to the front door. When he entered the room, he could see an obvious split in the curved wall that must have been the secret entrance.

As Russ approached the wall, he heard a clicking sound as his foot stepped on a loose board. When Russ slowly took his foot off of it, the board clicked back up, and the partition in the wall opened, revealing the secret entrance. Russ shined his flashlight down into the opening, and he leaned outwards to look down into the abyss. His light barely illuminated the far bottom of the spiraling passageway, and with a quick wipe of the sweat that was forming on his brow, he made his way down into the secret labyrinth.

When he reached the bottom, the dank humid air of the cavernous expanse made Russ's shirt collar stick to his neck. He started to make his way down the long tunnel, and occasionally his flashlight would pick up strange sights like a loose coffin in one corner, several skeletons that looked like they much rather enjoyed being alive, and damp rusty chains that hung menacingly from the overhead. Towards the end of the tunnel, Russ could make out a door that was standing ajar, so he carefully pushed it open with the barrel of his gun and swept the interior, ready to take aim at anything that moved. After nothing did, he was able to get a good look at the room he now stood in.

Book cases stood high towards the ceiling, though many of them were now bare; the books that had once sat on them were now strewn about and piled messily in stacks that littered the floor. To his right, several display cases stood holding strange medicinal containers, all of them having thick gray cobwebs that secured them to their surface. In the center of the room stood a large work table were several beakers and note pads laid in disarray. On the far side of the wall stood two Mako pods of a very early design; their contents now just a putrid slime of stagnant water. Russ thought that he could see something scratched into the sides of the pods, but he decided not to get a closer look. Instead, he turned to the long hallway of bookshelves that extended from the work room where he now was into a smaller room that looked like it had a desk.

Again, just like the other bookshelves, all of the ones inside the hallway were vacated, their contents stacked sloppily beside them. Several of the books were open and were facing up. Russ shined his flashlight on them and could make out something about a Jenova Specimen. While he might have found the topic interesting if he were in a brightly lit and populated room, the overpowering sense that something evil was watching him at all times made him want to find what he was supposed to find and get out of here as soon as possible.

Russ entered the small study-area and shined his light on the series of books that were still shelved in their spots. These books had obviously not been disturbed since the last Shinra scientists had occupied this building over four years before. That much was obvious due to the level of dust and cobwebs that covered the leather-bound spines of the books.

After Russ made a face that showed he was disgusted by the level of dust in this room, he silently began to walk around the room with his head tilted onto its side, reading the labels of the books. Many of them were books on different species and others dealt with biological theories that he had no idea what they meant. Several of the volumes represented were historical books, all dealing with the Cetra and the history of their race.

Slowly he made his way around the shelves, and when he got to the shelf behind the desk's chair, he read something that was different than the other books. The majority of the books were bound in either blue or green leather, but these were a series of books that were bound in red. On these books were the words "Stagnant Mako." Russ wiped the cobwebs and dust away and looked at these books again for a better look. Each of the books had a subtitle below the Stagnant Mako title.

The first one said "Findings of Dr. Valentine," and the book beside it said "Locations of Stagnant Mako". The third book said "Scientific Findings on the Properties of Stagnant Mako". While these were different than the other books in the library, it was the fourth book that Made Russ pause and pull it out. The one he pulled out was labeled "Effects of Stagnant Mako On Test Subjects."

When Russ removed the book, he turned and placed it on the desk. He briefly thought about trying to read it with just his flashlight, but the idea didn't sound too good, so he took a chance that the lamp on the desk might work and pulled the chain. With a click, the light came on, bathing the dusty air with a soft amber light. Russ clicked his flashlight off and put it on the desk beside the book. He opened the thick cover and pushed it back with a loud crack since it hadn't been opened in some time. Russ picked up all of the pages at once and was about to idly flip through them, but he saw something that was inserted at the back end of the book.

Russ then let the rest of the pages fall forward and he saw that someone had placed a file folder inside the book. He picked this up and looked at it with a raised brow in confusion. At first he didn't understand what it was doing there, but then he realized that it was meant to be typed up in its own book but never was.

When Russ opened the file, he saw that it was exactly what they were sent here to look for. The file contained a full stack of papers, but a summary report was stapled to the front. Russ leaned forward on the desk and began to read.

**Report on Project X**

**Purpose of Project X:**_ To test the effect of Stagnant Mako on test subjects when used in conjunction with standard Jenova Cell Injection._

**Project X Procedure:**_ Procedure followed standard Mako Radiation Therapy with Jenova Introduction, however, Stagnant Mako was used in the place of standard Mako._

**Results:**_ Influence of Stagnant Mako and Jenova detected on each subject; each having different effects. Results of individual subjects are described in individual subject biographies below._

**Biography of Subjects:**

**Subject A:**

_Name: Arvin_

_Age: 23 at age of induction_

_Weapon: Long Sword_

_Height: 5'7"_

_Birthdate: July 21_

_Birthplace: Kalm_

_Bloodtype: B_

_Acquirement to Project: Selected out of SOLDIER candidates, X Month X Day._

_Results: Subject displayed extreme strength and ability to harness Spirit Energy; however, subject also became volatile and proved difficult to control._

_Current Status: In Stasis pod, Level 5 Security; Junon Underwater Reactor._

**Subject B:**

Name: Owzer 

_Age: 21 at age of induction_

_Weapon: Twin Sai_

_Height: 5'4"_

_Birthdate: December 13_

_Birthplace: Junon_

_Bloodtype: AB_

_Acquirement to Project: Selected from test panel of qualifying convicts, X Month X Day._

_Results: Subject displayed gains in speed and agility. Like Subject A, B displayed a heightened sense of rage and proved difficult to control._

_Current Status: In Stasis pod, Level 5 Security; Junon Underwater Reactor._

**Subject C:**

Name: Abrams 

_Age: 24 at age of induction_

_Weapon: Dual-bladed sword_

_Height: 7'2"_

_Birthdate: April 17_

_Birthplace: Mideel_

_Bloodtype: O_

_Acquirement to Project: Selected from test panel of professional athletes, X Month X Day._

_Results: Subject gained extreme levels of strength. Like previous subjects, C proved difficult to control and had to be restrained._

_Current Status: In Stasis pod, Level 5 Security; Junon Underwater Reactor._

**Project Status:**_ Due to uncontrollable temperament of subjects and the danger of their as yet unknown strength limits, Project X is hereby postponed indefinitely or until further notice._

_**Addendum: **__Previous test subjects were selected due to using qualifications that are regularly used to select members of the SOLDIER Program. Possibility of strong mental will has limited the full ability of the tested combination, creating unstable subjects. A further test will be done on another subject to test validity of Jenova theory 12._

**Subject D:**

_Name: Withheld_

_Age: Withheld_

_Weapon: Long Sword_

_Height: 6'1"_

_Birthdate: January 19_

_Birthplace: Withheld_

_Bloodtype: A_

_Acquirement to Project: Former Turk who went renegade, X Month, X Day. Due to injuries, subject has been in stasis pod controlled coma for 27 years. Subject selected to test validity of Jenova's healing ability. For full report of subject acquirement, see Shinra Administrative file number 756412._

_Results: Subject has healed in a rapid manner, exceeding estimated timetable. At present rate, if allowed to remain out of stasis, subject should regain full consciousness within the year._

_Current Status: Placed back into stasis pod until further experimentation can take place._

_-Professor Hojo_

Russ stared at the document for several minutes after he finished reading it for the tenth time. Everything about it made complete sense, except for the last subject. Russ noted in his head that the last entry was dated just two days before President Shinra was assassinated in his office by none other than Sephiroth himself.

Russ quickly closed the file and began to make his way out of the basement library. He was in an evident hurry because he knew that this information was needed by the Commissioner. But he was in such a hurry that he left the library and entered the cavernous tunnel without retrieving his flashlight from the desk. He silently cursed himself beneath his breath and turned back around to get it. But when he turned around, someone was blocking his path, someone with intensely glowing green eyes. For a moment, Russ stared at the shadowy figure, trying to make out his face, but the lack of light was making it extremely difficult. From what he could see, mainly by the light the green eyes emanated, the figure had long hair.

"Forget something?" the figure said with an eerily smooth and deep voice. The figure seemed to smile, and then let Russ see that he was carrying a long thin sword in his left hand. When Russ saw this, he remembered that his pistol was still in his hand, and he brought it up quickly to fire. He never got a shot off.

The figure moved with blinding speed, and before Russ could even level his pistol at the figure, Russ felt a quick sharp pain lance across his chest before he fell to the ground.

As blood began to pour out over his still new suit, Russ gasped for his last breath. He fought to lift his head long enough to catch a glimpse of his killer. Something about the way his killer carried himself reminded him of people he knew.

"You're a T-" but Russ never got to finish his sentence before the final light of life passed from his body and entered the Lifestream.

* * *

**A/N:** And there it is, the end of _Return of Darkness_. But what about the ending you ask? Well, obviously something will have to be done about that... 


End file.
